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Patreon Slaps Self-Defense Page with Disturbing Ruling

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In light of the fact that the past few election cycles have seen the Democrats ousted from power in the House of Representatives, Senate and now the White House — and their grip on the judiciary via activist judges is weakening — the left has increasingly turned to corporate America in a bid to implement their progressive agenda on the people — without legislation.

At the forefront of this effort are the anti-gun liberals, who have pressured banks and other financial services-oriented businesses to shy away from companies engaged in the firearms industry, or pressured social media platforms into cracking down on posts and videos that pertain to the Second Amendment and firearms.

It would appear that the latest platform to be used by the left to silence voices they don’t want to hear from the right is Patreon, a membership platform that helps creators manage subscription services for their content and allows those creators to get paid for their work by their “patrons,” for a small fee, of course.

But one member of Patreon’s platform who operated a Second Amendment-focused legal defense education page just found that his voice had been all but silenced by the platform as his account was restricted and labeled as if the page owner were posting pornography or incredibly explicit materials, as can be seen in the following tweet.

The Law of Self Defense page on Patreon is run by an attorney named Anthony F. Branca who specializes in self defense laws and even authored a book on the subject.

On the home screen of the Law of Self Defense Patreon page — once you click through the “18+” warning that blocks access — and scroll down about halfway, the page and business are described as “an educational and legal consulting enterprise focusing exclusively on American use-of-force law (self-defense, defense of others, defense of property).”

There are a variety of informative blog posts and videos that can be read or watched — some for free, others as part of the subscription service — but now the page contains a bolded disclaimer at the top that explains what Patreon did to Branca’s page and how he intends to respond.

“Patreon has suddenly decided to label this legal education page as ’18+,’ and at one point had it labelled as providing ‘X-rated’ content.  Thanks, but no thanks,” wrote Branca.

Are you tired of liberal corporate America's assault on our fundamental rights and values?

“So, over the next several months, probably through the end of 2018, we will be aggressively moving our content and our patrons over to our own web site before terminating this page with prejudice,” he added while also offering an assurance to regular readers, viewers and subscribers that he would keep them updated on how to make the eventual switch along with him.

Branca posted to Twitter the explanation he had received from Patreon’s “Trust and Safety Team” about the decision to restrict his page, but it wasn’t particularly explanatory or reassuring.

“We are contacting you because we noticed content on your page that looks like it should be marked as Adult Content. It’s critical that any Adult Content on our site is marked as such to keep the browsing experience safe and considerate for everyone,” the message stated.

“We have selected the Adult Content setting for your page as a precaution. If you did not and do not intend to post any Adult Content, you can appeal this decision,” the message added.

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Branca followed that with a threaded tweet which read, “For those who don’t know, I don’t post pornography or pedophilia or whatever. I do legal analysis of use-of-force events. Those sometimes involve people being injured or killed, but I don’t describe those in any greater gruesome detail than does the local news reporting.”

This man does nothing more than provide legal defense advice on the topic of self defense laws from a pro-Second Amendment viewpoint, but that seems to have earned him a restriction and label of “Adult Content” on Patreon, as if he were posting explicit pornography. It certainly appears that his pro-2A page was restricted for ideological reasons by the platform, and this sort of blatant assault on our fundamental and constitutionally guaranteed natural rights must stop immediately.

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Ben Marquis is a writer who identifies as a constitutional conservative/libertarian. He has written about current events and politics for The Western Journal since 2014. His focus is on protecting the First and Second Amendments.
Ben Marquis has written on current events and politics for The Western Journal since 2014. He reads voraciously and writes about the news of the day from a conservative-libertarian perspective. He is an advocate for a more constitutional government and a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, which protects the rest of our natural rights. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, with the love of his life as well as four dogs and four cats.
Birthplace
Louisiana
Nationality
American
Education
The School of Life
Location
Little Rock, Arkansas
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics




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