Controversial journalist Milo Yiannopoulos, or @nero, was banned from Twitter a while back. This, of course, was prior to the later controversy over comments where Yiannopoulos was alleged to have endorsed pedophilia; this seems to be a contested matter. But however you interpret his views, it is fairly clear that the comments have at least contributed to losing his book deal, among other career obstacles.
Still, he’s running his own site and his book appears to be out too. His Youtube appears to be a thing, too.
More recently, Sargon of Akkad has been banned too. However, he’s still on Youtube.
However, there are some challenges with other social media networks too. The University of Toronto psychologist Jordan Peterson has had some trouble recently with Youtube. Apparently,
The University’s of Toronto’s Dr. Jordan B. Peterson turned to famous friends Tuesday after his YouTube account was locked “with no explanation.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/1/jordan-b-petersons-youtube-account-locked-during-b/
As of today (06 September 2017), his account seems to be working again.
And Lauren Southern, formerly of Rebel Media, stated in July that Patreon (used to fund or support creators) had her account deleted.
Patreon just deleted my account.
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) July 20, 2017
However, there are still a lot of controversial people online.
Baked Alaska is one. He has has still had a controversy or two, though. He was attacked in Charlottesville. He has also threatened a lawsuit to someone who called him a white supremacist:
https://twitter.com/bakedalaska/status/905239266476691456
Other controversial figures include the renowned scientist and secular commentators Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris; far right Britain First politician Paul Golding; and hard-nosed Brooklyn Social Justice activist Linda Sarsour, who said she wished she could take away the vaginas of Brigitte Gabriel and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The latter are both stern critics of Islam; Ali is herself a contentious figure, who nonetheless retains an active Twitter presence.
Ultimately, it seems difficult to discern any kind of pattern here. Some of the figures I have mentioned here are merely considered controversial by a lot of people; e.g. Jordan Peterson, or Richard Dawkins. On the other hand, some others are wayyyyy beyond ‘merely controversial,’ such as Paul Golding. There does appear to be an element of contingency, with regards to who is sanctioned, and who isn’t!
Do you know about anyone else who is controversial (or more than controversial!), and who got banned or sanctioned in some way? Leave your thoughts below.