Medium has The Responsibility To Block Russian Disinformation And Propaganda

I love Medium. It is a wonderful place where thoughtful and not so thoughtful citizen writers can express their opinions right alongside the greats of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post. But there should be limits when it comes to free speech.

With the systematic destruction of Ukrainian cities and the deliberate killing of men, women and children with bombs and rockets, Medium has a moral obligation to root-out Putin disinformation and propaganda units from its pages, and it should not require a CIA intelligence agency to detect such filth.

And so, yesterday, I deliberately attacked one of these sites in the most vulgar way possible — not simply because I disagreed with the message — but rather I wished to violate the sound Medium principle of not attacking other writers. It got the attention I desired. Medium was prompted to send me a stern warning of my indiscretion.

And so now I’m warning Medium not to allow its fine platform to serve the murderous intents of the Russian propaganda agencies. You know who they are!

James M. Ridgway, Jr.