This clown

[Bloomberg] [Fully Charged]( From [Bloomberg](   [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  Hi everyone, it's Eric. If you want to understand America's broken political dialogue, you need to watch conspiracy theorist [Alex Jones](bbg://people/profile/18070312) heckle U.S. Senator [Marco Rubio](bbg://people/profile/3836905). The scene is a perfect parable for many of the problems we face today on the internet — it just all took place in the physical world. Outside the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings Wednesday, Rubio begins what looks to be a normal interview. Answering a reporter's question, he says that technology companies should not "go after freedom of expression." That's a fairly standard Republican position right now, discourage Facebook and Twitter from cracking down. Enter Jones, the InfoWars star, who is standing just outside the camera's frame. "But what about the Democrats purging conservatives?" he implores. "Republicans are acting like it isn't happening." He's complaining about what he calls "deplatforming" — people who get locked from their social media accounts for bad behavior. Jones is well versed in this issue. He's been banned from Facebook and YouTube and after his shenanigans this week, Twitter [booted him]( as well. In this [exchange](, we see in the flesh the alt-right literally forcing itself into the conversation. This is akin to the gamergate-style brigading that is all-to familiar online, where a persistent group of trolls post, reply, comment, and meme their way into the conversation. How they're saying it — regardless of the message — can be corrosive to reasoned debate. As on the internet, Rubio and the reporter determinably try to ignore Jones and get back to the interview. But Jones keeps interrupting. Jones says, "There's no purge of conservatives? There's no shadow banning?" "Who is this guy?" Rubio asks. It's hard to know if Rubio is on the level here. Jones, who runs InfoWars, is a well-known entity. It's difficult to imagine Rubio, a Republican senator and former presidential candidate, doesn’t know who Alex Jones is. Rubio [told a reporter]( afterward that he'd heard of Jones but didn't recognize him. Possible. To me this reads more like a common online strategy: Don't feed the trolls. Then Rubio asks, "Is that a heckler at a press gaggle?" Jones who has been ranting on-and-off throughout Rubio's interview, continues, "Look at this guy, he's saying that I don't exist and they're de-platforming me." Rubio: I just don't know you are. I don't read weird websites. Jones: Sure, sure, and they demonize me in these very hearings and then he plays dumb. InfoWars.com, you know what it is full well. That's why you didn't get elected because you're snake-like. Again the reporter tries to press on, "Here's the question do you think does Google, does Facebook, does Twitter do they need to be regulated like--" Jones: Marco Rubio is a snake! Rubio: His dumb ass Jones: Little frat boy, here. Then, Jones grasps Rubio's shoulder. Again the reporter tries to ask another question. Rubio tells Jones not to touch him. Jones verbally escalates the conversation. Rubio makes clear that he won't have him arrested; he'll just "take care of it myself." Jones seizes on the moment, "Oh, he'll beat me up. You don't know who I am but you're not going to silence me. You're not going to silence America. You are like --- you are literally like a gangster thug. Rubio just threatened to physically take care of me." Again the reporter tries to ask a question. "Do you believe that these platforms need to be regulated like a public utility and how do you go about doing that?" Rubio: Well, I prefer not to, I prefer competition take care of that but obviously we're going to watch closely to make sure these tools that are being used I mean one thing is to say we're going after foreign interference designed to sow instability — Jones: But it's already going on here Democrats are raping Republicanism, the Democrats are raping InfoWars. Rubio: At some point someone has to make a determination between misinformation abroad and differences of opinions within the United States. That's a very fine line. Jones: But then he doesn't know about InfoWars being banned? Eventually, Rubio leaves, telling the reporters "you guys can talk with this clown." There's a profound irony in this whole exchange. Jones, the professional conspiracy theorist, is articulating a truth that Rubio is refusing to acknowledge and that the reporter isn't raising. That truth is that when Rubio and other Republican politicians discourage social media companies from regulating free speech, it is often voices like InfoWars that they're effectively defending. Facebook is never going to ban the conservative magazine the Weekly Standard, which it named as one of its fact-checkers. It's the troll army on the right that's the problem, not conservative thinkers. By breaking into the interview, Jones isn't interested in convincing anyone about his views. He just wants to be the loudest voice, overwhelming everyone else. Here, as online, it poses the question, "What do you do about speech that's corrosive to thoughtful discourse?" Jones's website is full of stories that are factually incorrect, fearmongering and generally disconnected from reality. It's Jones's rhetorical style on the page. Twitter finally had enough with his shenanigans. Rubio called him a clown. But doesn't the senator realize that clown is who he has been defending?  And here’s what you need to know in global technology news:  The celebrity video site [MasterClass raised $80 million](. Will that help it escape the problems that have beguiled other online education companies?  Mutual fund giants value PagerDuty at $1.3 billion. The startup is a l[eader in the developer operations market](.  Who owns their personal data? [Data rights advocates argue]( that people should get paid for sharing their personal information.   Sponsored Content by Morgan Stanley The next crop of tech stocks to dominate the market will likely serve businesses, not consumers. The new leaders will likely be companies that reduce the cost of production, rather than the cost of consumption, through industrial automation, robotics, AI or blockchain technology. [Read more.](   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Technology newsletter Fully Charged. 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