Maybe it's time to consider Facebook, Twitter, et al, as common carriers, which, under the new net neutrality law, would disallow them from censoring content.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carrier#Telecommunicati...
Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
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Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#12If you don't like Facebook's actions then don't use it. Having open speech on Facebook's platform is not an inalienable right. I don't agree with Facebook's privacy policies and thus have deleted my account and use other platforms. This isn't difficult. This article is tantamount to saying "Woe is me, NYT won't publish my op-ed." and expecting anyone to take you seriously.
I see this comment a lot.
Sure, yes, I believe people should leave the platform too. But how do you get a billion people to decide to leave? By talking about problems with the platform. I believe that's what this article does.
It seems like you're suggesting that the article has no purpose (with your "woe is me" characterization). I would disagree with that.
And if anyone is reading this: HN readers, we are the people with the skills to set up a diaspora instance. Yes, your friends aren't using it. Fine. You use it first, and perhaps they will follow. One of my next projects is to set up GNU Social with a feed on my personal website, so I can "tweet" whatever I'd like and know that it will be permanently under my control. There's even Android apps for GNU Social. If you don't like what Facebook is doing, perhaps help support the alternatives?
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#13Complete FUD. The rest of the world is not forced to use Facebook. Neither is anyone in the US.
There is no such thing as free speech on a social network, nor should there be.
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#14It's true that Facebook (and Twitter, Youtube, etc.) are expressing the point of view of the platform creators as to 'acceptable content' and it's worth pointing out. On the other hand, if I made a product that hosted user generated content I would probably have pretty similar guidelines to them. e.g. Yes the "nipple double standards" can be criticized but given current cultural norms, when this limit doesn't exist,…
Why not let people have that if they want it?
They could enact some level of content control so underage users are limited on what pages they can see or something, and tag explicit pages, but the existing ability to hide/block pages and posts related to them seem like a good enough place to start building on to.
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#15Facebook can do what they want, but they do censor everything. I don't care about FB, as I have an account that just sits and does nothing. When some organization censors something, they should say a reason, though... Some sites like to delete things and act like they never happened.
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#16If you don't like it, don't use it. It's really that simple.
I stopped using Facebook about five years ago, no complaints. Wish I had deleted my account sooner.
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#17The FSF has a lot of good material to read on why we don't want centralized control of our data. Applies to Facebook, Google, etc. As a card carrying FSF member (and supporter of EFF, ACLU, Software Conservancy) it embarrases me a little that I probably spend 30 minutes a day using Facebook, Google +, and Twitter; but I enjoy them, I keep the material I produce largely on my own infrastructure, and I work to prevent these actors from tracking me except for when I am actually using their services.
I use GNU Social a lot, but there is not as much interesting material to read there.
Last week I wished that Facebook screened violent pictures better: someone I know posted a picture of someone receiving 200 lashes, in way too much detail. That picture still disturbs me, just remembering it.
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#18I don't get why this is such an issue. I understand the sheer numbers of people that use fb and get their 'news' from it, but it amazes me that people are shocked that fb censors the content.
Facebook never claimed to be a news organization nor part of the 5th estate (which, pretty much doesn't exist). So that being the case, I would never expect fb to be a partner for democracy.
Just because some recent revolutions were helped by fb and twitter doesn't mean that these for profit corporations are for freedom of expression and 1st amendment rights.
People need to remember this whenever they post something on these sites. Especially since they outright claim to own the content (last time I checked).
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#19Maybe it's time to consider Facebook, Twitter, et al, as common carriers, which, under the new net neutrality law, would disallow them from censoring content. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carrier#Telecommunicati...
Maybe it's time to treat Facebook as the cancerous turd on society that it is.
Re: Facebook is imposing American censorship on the rest of the world
#20I'm not a fan of Facebook so this is great news. The more they manipulate the platform and undermine its objectivity and freedom, the less people will trust it. And while the reasons they shouldn't trust it - namely privacy- are not directly related to these actions, Facebooks attempts to control people like this will make them aware of its untrustworthiness.
TBH this is an area very prime for disruption, the "next Facebook" is right around the corner, but it will bear less relationship to The Facebook than The Facebook did to Myspace.