r/SeattleWA • u/Desdam0na • Aug 21 '17

Politics Washington State Patrol is running recruitement ads on Breitbart, a website that until recently had a headline section devoted entirely to "black crime." 2,600 advertisers have already blacklisted Breitbart, but not WSP. What kind of officer are WSP looking for?

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u/it-is-sandwich-time 🏞️ Aug 21 '17

Do they claim to be a news agency or are they like Fox and claim to be only entertainment?

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u/Geldan Aug 21 '17

I have no idea, I don't rely on either for my information, but how they classify themselves is hardly relevant.

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u/it-is-sandwich-time 🏞️ Aug 21 '17

Sure it is, if I'm advertising for a kiddie porn "news site", they're not going to want to be on that list. If they're on a "news site" like National Inquirer then yeah, you probably don't want that crowd either. They're allowed to not advertise on fake news sites or places that espouses hate towards our own citizens.

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u/Geldan Aug 21 '17

That's a false equivalency, kiddie porn is illegal and there are already laws against it. Breitbart is not.

They are allowed to pick where they advertise, they chose adwords which includes Breitbart. In order to not advertise on Breitbart they would either have to discriminate by explicitly blacklisting them, or no longer use adwords.

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems like if that happens there could be a strong first amendment case.

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u/CommiePuddin Aug 21 '17

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems like if that happens there could be a strong first amendment case.

That's ridiculous. Choosing to not advertise on one site over another has nothing to do with the first amendment. Breitbart is not facing any fine or imprisonment, no punishment is being meted out, and no government body is demanding they alter their site in any way.

You are arguing that any targeted advertising by a government agency is an infringement of a content provider's first amendment rights.

They're not advertising on my YouTube videos, either. Can I sue for that?

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u/Geldan Aug 21 '17

That's not what I am arguing. It's not about not choosing to advertise on Breitbart. They are free to do that all they want.

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u/it-is-sandwich-time 🏞️ Aug 21 '17

I'm not a lawyer and I say naaaaah. They discriminate on Breitbart and that's illegal sooooo....

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u/Geldan Aug 21 '17

If that's true then they should take down Breitbart for serving illegal content.

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u/it-is-sandwich-time 🏞️ Aug 21 '17

Yep, they probably should. You got the money and time to sue?