Pierre Omidyar, one of the worlds richest men and the founder
of eBay, is set to spend $100M to crush free thought expression
online under the guise of educating people and helping democracy.
The
funds are to be dispersed over the next few years through the Omidyar
Network, a philanthropic investment firm founded by he and his wife in
2004.
The Anti-Defamation League will be among those who
will receive a grant for the building of a new centre in the Silicon
Valley to censor discourse on social media networks and silence
opposing opinions to what will be deemed acceptable.
“What we’ve
seen over the last 12 months particularly has been an increase in
distrust – distrust in government institutions, in the media and in
social media,” said Stephen King, partner at Omidyar Network.
The Telegraph reports:
The
money will be distributed principally outside the US, with a focus on
countries where free speech is under threat. “We take it for granted
sometimes in the UK and in the US, but in many countries around the
world you don’t have that tradition of impartial, independent media that
isn’t state-run or captured by corporate interests.”
Details of the new fund will be announced at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford today.
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