AlterNet is claiming that it has uncovered a “widespread campaign of censorship” executed by a group of “influential” conservative and right-wing Digg members.
The site – which defines itself as a viable “alternative to the commercial media onslaught” – refers to Digg as both a “behemoth” and a “powerhouse.”
“The [Digg] model [makes] it very susceptible to external gaming whereby users from certain groups attempt to push their viewpoint or articles to the front page to give them traction,” claimed senior news editor “Oleoleolson.”
“But the inverse of this effect is more devastating, as Bury brigades could effectively remove stories from the upcoming sections by collectively burying them.”
According to Oleoleolson, a nefarious conservative group known as the “Digg Patriots” is so “organized and influential” that it is capable of burying over 90% of articles within 1-3 hours.
“This group is the heart of a complicated web on various networks, including Twitter, Propeller, StumbleUpon, YouTube and Facebook, all dedicated to ramming an extreme right wing viewpoint down the throats of those communities and censoring opposing viewpoints,” he alleged.
“This includes such means as cyber stalking, bullying and terror. There is also a heavy contingent active on the ultraconservative FreeRepublic.”
Oleoleolson – who described the Digg Patriots as “Teabagging wingnuts” – also accused the group of “loving to hate.”
“They hate Obama. They hate progressives. They hate the UN, diplomacy, and peace/disarmament efforts. They hate reforms of health care, Wall St., and immigration. They hate science, in fact many are creationists.
“They hate the secular nature of our nation. They hate environmental protection, unions and any attempt to level the playing field to give all Americans economic opportunities. They hate abortion rights. They hate public schools and really hate higher education.”
Unsurprisingly, Digg reacted cautiously to AlterNet’s rather hysterical charges, saying only that it had begun an investigation of the allegations.
“[We are] focused on launching digg v4, but we’re looking into this,” Digg spokesperson Kevin Rose confirmed in a Twitter post.
When pressed for additional details, a Digg PR rep told TG Daily “that’s all we are saying for now.”
