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Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#31

Post by fictioncircle »

broodbucket wrote: post #3

>“I thought once everybody could speak freely and exchange information and ideas, the world is automatically going to be a better place,” Williams told the Times. “I was wrong about that.” I despise this quote so much, and I'm far from a Trump supporter. If you need to censor speech in order for your side to win, maybe you have bigger issues than Trump's twitter account.

> I despise this quote so much, and I'm far from a Trump supporter. If you need to censor speech in order for your side to win, maybe you have bigger issues than Trump's twitter account.

Stop blocking spam, advertising, legalize government use of propaganda domestically, etc.

No?

Then clearly your position has an obvious flaw in that you have to censor certain classes of speech. All of those happen on Twitter.

Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#33

Post by fictioncircle »

nitinreddy88 wrote: post #6
broodbucket wrote: post #3

>“I thought once everybody could speak freely and exchange information and ideas, the world is automatically going to be a better place,” Williams told the Times. “I was wrong about that.” I despise this quote so much, and I'm far from a Trump supporter. If you need to censor speech in order for your side to win, maybe you have bigger issues than Trump's twitter account.

Totally agree with you. Twitter should be publishing whatever the user wants to convey (unless its violating any local laws). They shouldnt be deciding whats right or wrong based on their personal opinion.

> Totally agree with you. Twitter should be publishing whatever the user wants to convey (unless its violating any local laws). They shouldnt be deciding whats right or wrong based on their personal opinion.

Stop blocking spam, advertising, and government propaganda then.

Absolutist arguments like this have an obvious problem in that certain classes of speech are a problem.

Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#35

Post by fictioncircle »

urda wrote: post #21

AKA: > Twitter co-founder: I'm sorry we didn't use our platform to silence an opposing view point. Shame. Silencing someone else because you disagree makes you many, many times worse than them. Sunlight and exposure is the best disinfectant, not this play.

Hey, if you want to legalize government propaganda go ahead. It's pretty clear sunlight is an ineffective disinfectant in that scenario.

Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#36

Post by broodbucket »

kelnos wrote: post #27
broodbucket wrote: post #3

>“I thought once everybody could speak freely and exchange information and ideas, the world is automatically going to be a better place,” Williams told the Times. “I was wrong about that.” I despise this quote so much, and I'm far from a Trump supporter. If you need to censor speech in order for your side to win, maybe you have bigger issues than Trump's twitter account.

Yes, your problem is that you have a country full of gullible morons who will believe anything if it's framed in a way that jives with their worldview and sense of self-preservation, even if it's mildly misleading to flat-out wrong at best. It's not unreasonable to combat that with moderation, which I don't consider to be "censorship" if done correctly.

"done correctly" = "in accordance with my ideas"

If bad ideas are being communicated, then communicate better ones. I understand it's hard, that people can be idiotic and short-sighted, that 140 characters is very limiting, but thinking " only lost because of gullible morons" isn't how (in Trump's case) the Dems will end up winning in 2020.

There's a fantastic article about this logic here: https://medium.com/@SeanBlanda/the-other-side-is-not-dumb-26...

FWIW I'm not American either.

Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#37

Post by NamTaf »

broodbucket wrote: post #3

>“I thought once everybody could speak freely and exchange information and ideas, the world is automatically going to be a better place,” Williams told the Times. “I was wrong about that.” I despise this quote so much, and I'm far from a Trump supporter. If you need to censor speech in order for your side to win, maybe you have bigger issues than Trump's twitter account.

The irony of this post and the subsequent replies debating the true meaning/context of his 158-character long quote is hopefully not lost on anyone.

Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#38

Post by baq »

urda wrote: post #21

AKA: > Twitter co-founder: I'm sorry we didn't use our platform to silence an opposing view point. Shame. Silencing someone else because you disagree makes you many, many times worse than them. Sunlight and exposure is the best disinfectant, not this play.

It's about the mechanism, not Trump himself. In a better (that is, promoting reason and truth instead of emotion and tribalism) discussion framework Trump wouldn't win.

Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#39

Post by fictioncircle »

IanCal wrote: post #9

Somewhat concerning statements on their own. > “I thought once everybody could speak freely and exchange information and ideas, the world is automatically going to be a better place,” Williams told the Times. “I was wrong about that.” I'd like to see a more detailed look at why Twitter might not have been a good idea. I don't think that free, easy communication is a bad thing and I think it's powered an enormous chan…

Honestly, I am more worried about the fact HN seems oblivious to the fact Twitter was being used as a targeted propaganda system by a foreign government than I am of censorship in the US.

Re: Twitter co-founder: I’m sorry if we made Trump’s presidency possible

#40

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Fede_V wrote: post #15
colordrops wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly are you saying?

That Twitter, as it's currently designed, is an excellent platform for sharing cool links (science/ML twitter is fantastic), but it is downright deleterious for any subject where nuance is called for. I think Twitter had a net negative effect on political discussion not because of free speech, but because it rewards bombastic language, point scoring, cheerleading and makes substantial arguments impossible.

Science also needs lots of nuance though. I mean you can only post a headline on Twitter, e.g. "X out of Y people support Trump" - but you can't put the information there backing up that claim, e.g. what people, the research method, and all the nuances. I mean I'll believe those posts will have a link to the full text, but still - twitter is just the headlines.
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