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Some members of ATS have strongly criticized the site for their personal perception of overtly censoring content though a large number of moderation staff who actively police to uphold its terms and conditions.[17] Users point out that although this may be necessary for the smooth running of the site, censorship can be perceived as being ironic for a site that is user generated. Also, the notion of censorship is a prominent feature in conspiracy literature and this adds to the problems of ATS censorship. Real life activities can also lead to removal from Above Top Secret. When it was discovered that Jared Loughner was posting on ATS as "erad3" he was banned.
Members have also been critical of Above Top Secret moderators for not following the terms and conditions while actively making others do so. Their Terms and conditions and rules posting rules made by the owners state that members cannot use the site for recruitment to any causes whatsoever.[18][19] Moderators have broken this rule [20] while censoring members for doing the same.[21] [Also the "Next Level Bullshit" videos which are promoted by the site staff violate profanity rules that all other members must follow or else are punished.]
Other users have pointed out that a tradition of always siding with the conspiracy theory can lead to misinformation being posted on the site. The practice of deleting any post that is inadvertently advertising any of ATS’s rival and smaller conspiracy sites is treated with suspicion. [Many URLs to other conspiracy websites, such as beforeitsnews.com, are automatically censored for being "unreliable" or "hoaxes."] Critics would point out that this is ATS taking advantage of its internet monopoly on internet conspiracy literature for corporate gain and reduces the ability to cooperate with other sites to build on knowledge. One claim made by ATS is that news is reported before it is reported in the mainstream media. This occurs rarely, however, as nearly all "alternative news" on ATS comes from mainstream media sources.[22]
Some have even gone so far as to accuse ATS of being controlled opposition, reminiscent of the former COINTELPRO operation of the United States. This is a recurrent theme in many ATS posts and one which the owners of the site deny,[23] such as author and commentator Laura Knight Jadczyk[24] who has openly criticized Above Top Secret after she published an article on her alternative news website Signs of the Times.[25] This led to a dispute between her and the owners of ATS who claimed that the article had breached ATS’s “creative commons deed”.[26]
Within the discussion boards, topics are still moderated. Members individual posts are often altered, edited out, and/or removed by moderators if the member breaks the site's terms and conditions. Banning members who persistently do not adhere to the site terms and conditions is a commonly used option. Topics that discuss the Galactic confederation of light are removed from the UFO section and put in an off topic forum. 9/11 Conspiracy theories about Holographic planes being used are prohibited.[27]
Any conversations of pertinence to the subject matter of cannabis, whether it be contextually of relevance to the recreational use, the medicinal use, the legalization of use or the economic benefits of production of the said compound, is strictly prohibited and resultantly censored. Contrary to the current uncompromising enforcement of censorship, residual evidence of a time when such discussion was permitted, can be found on the website's main forum index (a directory listing of the composite fora of the website). The aforesaid evidence is in the fashion of an untitled link to the now absconded original forum board and respective discussions. The link currently directs to the website's default 404 page as per all censored discussions of any subject matter. In lieu of a forum title, the link is graphically represented by a monotone icon depicting a male smoking what is colloquially referred to as a "joint" or a "blunt". Ancillary information adjacent to the link denotes the cumulative topic total and the last date of active and therefore uncensored discussion September 30, 2011. Springer, one of website's owners, formally declared a "zero tolerance" ban on conversations concerned with illicit drugs and even legal, psychoactive substances on February 25, 2008. The ban was invoked on the basis of stereotyping members with an interest in discussing the subject matter. According to Springer, such members are idiosyncratically "immature", "snide", uncivil and disruptive and despite the demonstrative sincerity of legalization advocates, Springer described such advocates as "a type of user that is simply not wanted here".[28] Such policies, in terms of the enforcement practices of moderators, are indicative of a double standard; by merit of their own definition of "mind altering" substances, discussions regarding alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical drugs are still permitted.
Ownership of user generated content calls the motive of the media portal into question. Above Top Secret provides a media portal for users to upload self made pictures and videos. While members still have the option to upload videos to sites like YouTube and then post them on ATS they can no longer post any images to ATS unless they are uploaded to the media portal.
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