Will Linden Lab Ban Donald Trump's Racist, Community Standards-Violating Supporters in Second Life?

I told you about the apparent Trump supporter who assaulted Bernie Sanders' fan headquarters in Second Life with Nazi swastikas, now VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb has an in-depth report on Trump's SL supporters, and to nobody's surprise, it's about as offensive as that:

I had no idea what to expect when I downloaded the Second Life launcher. It was pure chance that I clicked on that wall and ended up teleporting to a Trump HQ where a group of his supporters were going on racist tirades. But I could understand their skepticism, and I also remembered how I’m always begging vicious trolls who harass people on behalf of hate groups like Gamergate to remember that they are targeting a human being. And I kinda forced myself to listen to that plea even for some racist Trump supporters.

Jeff even captured some video of the casual racism (below, but not fun to watch). Of course, this runs in clear violation of Linden Lab's Community Service regulations:

The Community Standards sets out [behaviors], that will result in suspension or, with repeated violations, expulsion from the Second Life Community. All Second Life Community Standards apply to all areas of Second Life, the Second Life Forums, and the Second Life Website... Actions that marginalize, belittle, or defame individuals or groups inhibit the satisfying exchange of ideas and diminish the Second Life community as a whole. The use of derogatory or demeaning language or images in reference to another Resident's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is never allowed in Second Life.

As with the controversy over virtual versions of the Confederate flag last year, or the firestorm over Front National's official SL HQ in 2007, the Trump community in SL brings up an interesting tension between real world racism and virtual expressions of it. Most agree that Donald Trump expresses racist opinions and policies, but at the same time, he is also a leading candidate for President with a very large following. Despite that fact, should Linden Lab's policies ban expressions of his opinions from SL, and supporters repeating his opinions in SL -- even after he actually became President?

If past behavior is a guide, the answer is yes -- Linden Lab quietly removed the Confederate flag from the SL Marketplace. Though if Trump actually is elected President of the United States, that may be a policy that becomes difficult to sustain. You know, like the actual country.

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Comments

[metacam oh]

not all Trump supporters are scum, but all scum are Trump supporters

[zz bottom]

Sadly i fear that LL will not dare to defy the next president of USA (God bless us all, i would prefer 1000 trumps to 1 hc!)

[virtual citizen]

I was there and this clip was taken out of context on the subject of leftists wanting to control language. This comment's intent was to be facetious
- treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor - not racist.

[藤代 大輝]

I'm Japanese. They are very friendly :(
They was welcome me. They were very gentlemanly. Because did not discriminate against me.
Anyway. It's inevitable to attack a very rude person.
if continues to write articles like this in nwn, I will support them.

[interesting]

This article is an obvious call to ban free speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of thought, thinly veiled by phrasing the title as a question rather than a statement. Satire is protected speech and if anything is in violation of game rules and privacy laws it is the posting of that video to youtube.

[interesting]

Wait a sec, did this author just cry that when Trump is elected the crazed left may not be able to ban speech they don't agree with anymore? Oh the horror!

[hmm]

This 'article' is a clear call to ban free speech, freedom of expression, and free thought, thinly veiled by phrasing the title as a question instead of a statement. Satire is protected speech and the only thing I see in violation of anything is the violation of privacy due to the secret recording and then posting of this video to youtube.

[SL Resident]

"Most agree that Donald Trump expresses racist opinions and policies...'

Most idiots agree to that yes, the man has never said a single racist thing, nor are his policies racist.

This is what I am tired of. The constant never-ending screams of unfounded and outright untrue claims of racism from Donald Trump.

I agree that people should not be espousing those racist views in Second Life or anywhere else for that matter, but you seem to be blaming Donald Trump for it and not the people doing it.

You walk a fine line but you've clearly crossed it politically and that's fully within your right as a 'journalist'. It's just sad that you're going to this level-but not surprising.

[Dartagan Shepherd]

A couple other comments are right. Trump isn't a racist. Regardless of who you like, if you fall for the other sides rhetoric and can't tell the difference between hyperbole and fact, there's a worse problem than the candidate you don't like.

I like being somewhat disconnected. It lets me realize that comments about immigration are not racist, they're comments about immigration.

I have no clue what this group in SL does. It has nothing to do with the campaign in RL. It's a sim with toons that may or may not even care about this stuff in RL.

[Bixyl Shuftan]

Question: How does Linden Lab ban the Trump HQ without looking partisan?

[metacam oh]

lol look at the comments here. Take a look at yourselves. You are so wrapped up in following the Republican party you are willing to support a sperm lotto winning misogynistic orange creep. It's a political party, not your family. Trump isn't your imbecile brother that you need to defend no matter what. lol so pathetic.

[Sylvie Jeanjacquot]

@ 藤代 大輝
wow - how sad and just mindless is that.
the japanese, themselves allied to nazi germany and not behaving well...

go for trump then, you'll see, kid

[Sylvie Jeanjacquot]

trump partisans - get the shit out of sl.
the swastika stuff shows, where these blokes are based.

but if this "trump being" runs the next presidency... good night america, good night the world
in what international context would a trump can do anything positive?
nice meetings though with le pen, putin, the hungarian bloke, the german wright wing.

[Shockwave Yareach]

If it is on a private island and breaks no federal laws, then ll should them alone. You don't like it? To bad - private island is the same as a private home in my book. I don't have to see it in public.

But if it is mainland then yes, the ll rules should be followed. You aren't in a private home but rather are in an apartment complex, and the complexes rules eclipse your own. If you want to wave confederate flags, do it on private islands where it's not in public view.

Ll needs to realize people paying large sums for playgrounds are doing so to play. So long as nobody is breaking the law and is keeping their interests to themselves, LL should leave the customers alone. That said though, public areas on mainland aren't what one would consider private.

[Wagner James Au]

Thing is:

"All Second Life Community Standards apply to all areas of Second Life"

All is all!

[Sl Resident]

@Hamlet

Get back to me when LL rids the grid of the rampant child porn and age play issue it pretends doesn't exist then I'll take you seriously over this Trump thing.

[Priscilla Cox]

ROTFLMFAO! All this wingnut talk about free speech, freedom of expression, and free thought being banned shows a shockingly display of ignorance about the concept & the 1st Amend.

Lesson: Freedom of speech is not absolute, nor does it grant you freedom of consequences. The author of this PRIVATE blog has every right to delete my post for example. You won't see me bawling about my free speech rights, as it most certainly doesn't apply. Same to LL's TOS, if I fail to abide by it, I get the boot. No whining about my freedumb here.

So, I guess I had no idea that Linden Lab and NWN is part of the gubermint! TYRANNY!!! WHERE'S MY TEABAGS AND TRICORNE HATS!!!!

One thing I have learned from the far-right populists in this election cycle so far is they sure do play that victimization card very well. ;-D

[Anon]

This post is trolling because you can't accidentally find THE WALL, as it was a private closed sim :)

[Anon]

@Priscilla Cox : Does your comment cost thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours?
That's what I thought. your argument is invalid.

@Sylvie Jeanjacquot: I love everything you do for SL and I'm a customer of yours as well =) but I would have you read some of Trump's work and learn some of his views directly and not from the biased media portraying him as a Nazi. because he's not that at all

@Wagner James Au: What you say maybe true, but you have to understand the ethics of any business aside regulations, they exist for legal disclaimer HOWEVER it is completely inhumane to destroy user-owned and user-created content, ranging from accounts, inventory, avatars, buildings, designs, estates, media and more.

considering the enormous effort spent with those accounts (11 years plus) the actions taken by Linden Labs, taken without warning, or notice. were unspeakably brutal.

there were about 5-10 accounts heading the trump supporter's fund and therefore the group. however total of banned accounts easily exceeded the 20.

*the above numbers maybe inaccurate and are estimates from reliable sources*

@SL Resident: I agree with some of your statements but I would again like I always say urge you to do some direct research borrow or purchase the book Crippled America by Donald Trump, and cross-reference it to other political articles to better understand politics before spewing what the media spits out. because after all, it's biased.