But why did they investigate?

This is the part where you explain why anyone gives a shit?

I don't like Trump at all, and the tweet made me utter a groan for 5 consecutive minutes, but this is an invasion of privacy and extortion.

A very large corporation is telling an individual what they can or cannot post "or else." If it were any other company, how would you react?

Where can the meme be seen?

Corporations don't have the restrictions that governments do regarding free speech. But even the Supreme Court has said that there are restrictions on what can be free speech especially when it can be construed as a threat or have crime.

Trump or a staff member seems to spend time on hate sites to gather material for Trump to retweet. While Trump may make excuses for that content, the fact it's sourced from them implies that Trump agrees with them.

This is just going to make hundreds of people make similar memes to flood it so they can't find everyone.

Congress is trying to take away millions of peoples insurance and this is the best you can come up with?

"Corporations don't have the restrictions that governments do regarding free speech."

So you're saying corporations are allowed to threaten people not to say certain things?

And you think it's not only legally in the clear but also morally justifiable?

Is the way Monsanto attacks its critics also morally justifiable?

The freedom of speech does NOT include a right to publish content anonymously. If a person does not want to be ridiculed or penalized by others for publishing something, that person should not publish the content.

TrPrado, you state that CNN has broken the laws banning the invasion of privacy and extortion, so I believe YOU are the one who wants the freedom of speech restricted because you say that you believe CNN's actions are or should be ILLEGAL - you want to deny CNN's freedom, and possibly the freedom of other people to respond to the speech of their peers.

The freedom of speech DOES include a right investigate the identity of a publisher, and DOES include a right to ridicule and dissociate from people who publish content with which you don't agree. The creator of this meme has not had his freedom of speech restricted in any way; rather, he learned the hard way that there can be CONSEQUENCES to his reputation if he humiliates himself by exercising his right unwisely.

The invasion of privacy is an intrusion into the seclusion of someone's private affairs, but the identity of someone who publishes content freely and publicly is newsworthy information that CNN can investigate without breaking any law. You describe CNN's behavior as "extortion" and I think you mean "blackmail" more specifically perhaps, but CNN is not demanding money and is not threatening to report the publisher for a crime.

Are you saying a threat isn't going on?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_privacy

Publishing a private citizen's personal information without the consent of that private citizen is a violation of privacy. Doing so on the basis of what they post online is a treat and attempt to control speech.

I'm not saying seize the entire press and make it print any thing over others. I'm a libertarian. But there is no world where this is morally justifiable.

I feel obliged to point out that this isn't really about the meme (although that was what started the whole thing) - the post history of the user, prior to him deleting his account, was what made this whole thing worth a story for CNN.

http://i.imgur.com/w3Z7Yac.jpg

I'm not a fan of the whole 'We won't publish the name provided he doesn't do it again' approach, but I can't say I'd have been particularly bothered if they had just published the name. I would've thought it would've been obvious to anyone that if you're going to post a bunch of blatant racism and hate like that, don't post a ton of information that can be used to identify you using the same account.

Actually, a better link for the post history...

https://imgur.com/a/mlZ5t

If CNN had just posted his username and talked about the stuff he posted, I really wouldn't care. But the issuance of a threat means that their own behavior is at an indefensible level, even if it was issued against a racist.

There's nothing wrong with the meme itself, it's obviously comedy and I honestly see worse stuff daily in the cartoon section of USA Today. CNN and the president acted in ways they shouldn't have. The president should not have retweeted it and CNN should not be harassing the creator of the video.

The problem I had with the CNN piece linked above isn't with disclosing the identity of the meme creator. It was labeling the artist as someone who traffics on racist and white supremacist sites. Like all claims by MSM, how about providing some raw data links so I can judge for myself? I have long since quit relying on the media spin for my information. I go to sources I trust, like wikileaks, or to the raw data itself so I can make my own judgment. CNN is a corporate media machine, an organ of the State or its corporate masters, and is no longer credible.

Swordsman forget freedom of speech.
CNN is Headquatered and such is subjected to Georgia to law and might have broken this one.
The GA Code explains that someone could be guilty of “Theft by extortion” if they threaten to “disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to impair his credit or business repute.”
So it may not be Freedom of Speech but they might have broken a law.

The guy admitted to posting anti jewish imagery, racist comments, and images encouraging violence against the media.

Can someone explain why were hardcore coddling this loser? Like for real who fuckinf cares. Racists should absolutely be publicly outed and shamed. Were a better society for outing racists - fact.

This is another example of the war between this administration and the media.

If for example the president was actually governing - actually pushing his agendas these types of shit wouldbt even be stories worth publishing

and the brainbomb sharpens the guillotine and puts on his best Robespierre face.

"Racists should absolutely be publicly outed and shamed."

And a corporation doing so by threatening to release personal information disparages and discredits the fight against racism.

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and politician, one of the best known and most influential figures associated with the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.

the Reign of Terror-do you understand what you are promoting brainbomb

How does that discredit the fight against racism? Please expand because you lost me.

As Flum pointed out, CNN basically turned him into a martyr that racists will use as justification.

an attempt at a radical purification of politics through the killing of enemies.