Urgent Message From Editor-in-Chief Mnar Muhawesh on Social Media Censorship
Dear friends and supporters, I have an important announcement to make. Please read this post and SHARE with your friend as this is urgent. The future of MintPress News depends on your support. After the October 11th, 2018 Facebook and Twitter purge of over 800 activist sites and pages — many of which were partner sites with MintPress News — we believe our days as an independent journalism organization on authoritarian social media platforms are numbered.
Since 2012, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing the dangers of the national security state, the military-industrial complex, and the corporations that have hijacked our democracy and are destroying the planet. We have stood up strong against a media Goliath [the corporate media] that controls over 90% of what we see, hear and read in equipping the American public with pertinent information that holds the establishment accountable.
Our independent, watchdog journalism is creating a shift in consciousness among the millions of readers we’ve been able to reach in the last 6 years, and the very powers that be are taking notice. They realize the impact MintPress is making and are trying to silence us where we reach most of you and where the majority of people are getting their news from: on social media.
The very establishment the media should be holding accountable are working hand in hand with corporate media giants including The Washington Post and Buzzfeed to play thought police and “fake news” spotters that have targeted MintPress on Facebook. To make matters worse NATO funded think tanks like theAtlantic Council has also partnered up with Facebook to suppress our content, flag our posts as “inappropriate” or “spam” and in many cases censor us under the guise of fighting “fake news”.
Facebook has been flagging several of our articles and our reader’s political comments as spam. It’s only a matter of time before our page and some of our readers end up in Facebook jail, or purged completely. Facebook has also admitted to deleting user accounts at the behest of the U.S. and Israeli governments.
Hopefully we’re wrong, but it feels like our Facebook days are numbered.
And it’s not just Facebook. MintPress articles are even being blocked by Google News in search results. Not only that, but we are consistently being threatened to have our ads cut off by one of our main sources of revenue: Google Adsense, which is flagging several of our investigative pieces as “not appropriate” for advertisers. This article addressing Obama’s policies as racist is just one example
This has affected our readership and drained our advertising revenue by over 70%. They are doing everything they can to drain our bank accounts and prevent us from reaching our own readers and operate as an organization. As a result, we’ve had to cut staff and restructure our business plan time and time again to be able to function on a very small budget that is stretching us very, very thin. We can no longer rely on ads and are appealing to our readers and supporters to sustain us and help us create better, stronger content.
Our future depends on your support. We need your financial help to not only sustain MintPress’s operation costs but to help us make a comeback against the powers that be who are trying to silence us — before these social media giants wipe us off the map.
While Facebook, Google, and others ramp up their efforts to make watchdog journalism algorithmically disappear, we’re ramping up our efforts to circumvent corporate censorship and provide our readers with the kind of journalism that empowers we the people.
How you can help: Help us raise $25,000 in 60 days
We have an initial first phase fundraising goal of $25,000 to help us sustain some of MintPress News’ operating costs and other journalism projects right here on GoFundMe:
1. An investigative unit led by award winning journalist Max Blumenthal;
2. Bring back “Behind The Headline” video series, hosted by me — Mnar A. Muhawesh;
3. Series reporting in censored conflict zones like Yemen + more.
We are fighting real “fake news” that is choking up the airwaves produced by the establishment, corporate media, but we can’t win against them in educating the masses without your help.
We’re offering our donors special gifts like personalized keychains, stickers, reusable shopping bags, stainless steel water bottles (BPA free) and t-shirts with snazzy messages about peace and government accountability. (read more in the link) Check the link in the comments to learn more about what we’re doing to fight for truth.
In solidarity,
Mnar Muhawesh
Founder & Editor-in-Chief, MintPress News
