During these challenging times, some may find it tempting to try and purge the online environment of propaganda and hate speech — but we must not succumb to the siren song of censorship, whose blade, given time, cuts equally right, left, or center. Danger signs manifest themselves today — some gatekeepers of our internet infrastructure are independently exercising censorship over who may speak online and who may not. Recently, Google, GoDaddy and Cloudfare have independently shut down or cancelled accounts with the Daily Stormer, an established neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and white supremacist website:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/08/fighting-neo-nazis-future-free-expression

We strongly discourage these censoring actions, as we all rely on a free and open internet to communicate and to live freely. The internet platform may be new, but the urgency of uncensored communication is not: in her 1906 book on Voltaire, E.B. Hall wrote these words reflecting the free-thinking Voltaire’s sentiments, as appropriate in the 1700s as they are today: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”