Church of Scientology asks followers to censor Web comments

The church has sent an email to followers instructing them on how “to counter free speech on the internet,” according to former Scientologist and current anti-Scientologist blogger Marty Rathbun, who posted the email message in its entirety on his blog.

He notes that it comes from the church’s Office of Special Affairs, otherwise known as the “dirty tricks and propaganda arm of Scientology Inc.” The message begins:

I am not a big fan of media, but you may have glanced the news of the split between TC and Holmes and all the speculations around. While this is a personal matter, when people start to bring our religion into the middle and a bunch of uninformed people start to spread false datum, rumors and defame our religion it became a matter that does affect my Dynamics and I believe that affects yours as well.

The message instructs followers to visit media sites, including Microsoft, Google or any other that requires users to agree to a code of conduct that prohibits comments that threaten, defame or degrade any group or individuals.

Followers should hunt for any comments about the Cruise-Holmes divorce, click the “Report” tag, and report the comments as violations of the site’s code of conduct, the email instructs.

You can write something like “Violate Your Code of Conduct”. ‘defames or degrades a group for any reason including on the basis of religion.’

The author of the email notes that if only one person does it, the news site moderators won’t act. Thus, the email says, “if you start to have 10 or 20 people reporting it, they are going to take this down.”