The pro-life Catholic news site LifeSiteNews has allegedly been banned from the Apple News platform for promoting “intolerance.”
“A little over one week ago, Apple approved LifeSiteNews’ application to publish our news on their Apple News platform,” the site claimed on Thursday. “Today, without warning, Apple News abruptly reversed course, telling LifeSite that they had deleted our channel and all of our content from their platform. “Apple claimed that LifeSite’s channel ‘didn’t comply with our Apple News guidelines.’ Specifically, they stated that LifeSite’s ‘[c]hannel content shows intolerance towards a specific group.'”
The Apple News app allows people to follow their favorite news sites and receive updates on their Apple devices. LifeSiteNews also alleged that the email from Apple cited no specific article or the “specific group” they allegedly targeted. The site claims it will soon be appealing the decision. Supporters of LifeSiteNews can sign a petition demanding that Apple reverse course.
“We don’t yet know the reason for Apple’s decision to delete our channel,” said LifeSiteNews Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen. “However, at a time when there is growing evidence that tech juggernauts are engaging in concerted censorship against even mainstream conservative viewpoints, Apple’s decision – made unilaterally, and without opportunity to appeal – is frightening.”
“It goes without saying that LifeSite would never promote intolerance or hatred against any group,” Westen continued. “However, in our current divisive political climate, even mild expressions of common conservative viewpoints are often written off as de facto hatred and intolerance. We certainly hope that this is not what Apple is doing. However, we urge our readers to contact Apple, and to respectfully demand that they reinstate LifeSite’s channel.”
In October of last year, LifeSiteNews alleged it was threatened offline by its web-host company after LGBT activist Adam Flanders accused the outlet of pushing homophobia.
“This is extremely urgent.,” the LifeSite Editors said in a statement at the time. “I need to inform you that LifeSite just received an email at 8:30 p.m. EST from our web-hosting company alerting us that they will be taking our website down within 12 hours, if not sooner.”
Similar to the Apple News ban, LifeSite claimed it received no warning or notice prior to the email and was simply told by the company that they will be implementing the “suspension of services” clause.
Prior to that incident, LifeSiteNews claimed it had its account temporarily blocked on Twitter due to a four-year-old post about a spike in STDs among homosexual men. The article in question, “Why HIV, syphilis, and gonorrhea are rising among homosexuals,” was written in 2014 and focused on statistics provided by the CDC and The New York Times. Four years later, on October 18, the social media giant allegedly locked LifeSiteNews from its account for “hateful conduct.”
Steve Jalsevac, co-founder and president of LifeSiteNews, said the ban was “total intolerance” in line with Silicon Valley’s “totalitarian mindset.”
“This total intolerance for even reporting government health dept statistics that reveal the health dangers of homosexual activity betrays what Peter Thiel, himself a homosexual, previously called a totalitarian mindset in Silicon Valley,” said Jalsevac. “Twitter is now trying to force news agencies to report only what is acceptable to their personal, biased views and shutting down balanced, factual reporting on the homosexual issue.”