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Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

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Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#61

Post by will_brown »

joelrunyon wrote: post #10

Meanwhile twitter is being used to threaten assassinations - https://twitter.com/search?q=assassinate%20trump&src=tyah I get there's ugly stuff on the internet, but when did all the platforms decide to start being the moral center of determining what's acceptable speech. Hate speech is still protected speech (in the US anyways)[1] no matter how horrible it is. > A law that can be directed against speech found offensi…

Protected speech has nothing to do with private entities allowing you to use their platform to promote your message, it only curbs the government from prohibiting/punishing your speech.

So for example you have every right to wear a jean jacket in court that says "fuck the draft" and the government can't prohibit or punish you for it (famous 1st amendment case) but a church can have you removed for wearing an article of clothing that says "fuck the church". See public vs private. Alternatively the government can prohibit and punish (I.e. Criminalize) burning of draft cards, because such speech interferes with the public function; therefore, is not protected (another famous 1st amendment court case). And high schools can prohibit students from wearing armbands as a silent protest (I.e. Not protected speech), because the government has more powers than normal when they are the wards of minors (again another famous 1st amendment case).

And while hate speech may be protected, it can also be criminalized when used in conjunction with the commission of a crime and enhance the penalties of said crime.

Still none of this is applicable to private business, and you would probably be glad to know if you are a business owner you Wouldn't have to permit hate speech in your establishment.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#62

Post by axaxs »

Sorry to comment twice on a thread...but after thinking more, I really feel this is a dangerous precedent. The internet has been largely dominated by a few companies. I'd go as far as to call them nearly ubiquitous. When these companies start pushing political views, and start banning or otherwise blocking dissent, it becomes dangerous. What if, in retaliation, farmers of the Midwest banned shipments to California? Sure they'd survive, but not as conveniently. This is how civil wars start, and I think the two sides should start recognizing this and not pandering to the loudest voice.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#63

Post by calimac »

joelrunyon wrote: post #10

Meanwhile twitter is being used to threaten assassinations - https://twitter.com/search?q=assassinate%20trump&src=tyah I get there's ugly stuff on the internet, but when did all the platforms decide to start being the moral center of determining what's acceptable speech. Hate speech is still protected speech (in the US anyways)[1] no matter how horrible it is. > A law that can be directed against speech found offensi…

Absolutely! We are all on the plantation. It's like i woke up one day and realized that free speech is gone. I despize the crap going on in the south. what scares me more is how our masters, fb, twtr, ggle, et,al., rationalize Orwellian tyranny.

Did anyone else see the "schizophrenic" letter written by the cloudflare CEO this morning? I dare a psychologist to read that wacko-mole CEO's letter and sign-off on a clean bill of health.

We are like fish in the sea who abruptly realize we're trapped in a fisherman's net. The free platforms that run our social infrastructure around are not free.

Gab, one of the more librertarian network/apps, was shot in the gut today by google. The first thing Gab sould do is hire a fire breathing trial attorney to file a lawsuite and go after google for antitrust offensives. This is opportunistic and preditory shrouded in SJW moral arrogance. Never let a good crisis go to waste, crush a competitor instead.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#64

Post by Overtonwindow »

wisdomdata wrote: post #31

next dilemma for a startup - figuring out which bit of the splinternet you are going to target - the chinese, the confederate, the islamic or the general part.

Splinternet. Wow, that is a very good point. The real scary part is when it gets super, super easy to get on the Darknet. When everything is highly encrypted, and those who want to wallow in hate can do so, to their hearts content, because they will be off into the ether on their own, without supervision, without oversight. Then the only recourse will be full and total government control over the internet. Outlandish as it may seem, it's possible.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#65

Post by GuiA »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #59
joelrunyon wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's the argument free speech advocates are making. The argument is that facebook/twitter as well as some of these other platforms cloudflare/app stores, etc are a form of speech & they have a somewhat debateable stronghold on facilitating speech. So, when they deny speech to a specific group of people, they're not just denying service, but denying speech. The argument is debateable, but that is why p…

To add to that argument, GAB, StormFront, and other websites and services like it have been around a LONG time. Since the internet began. Yet we are only now seeing a reaction from those platforms that host such content. Why? What made Gab and Stormfront ok two weeks ago, but not ok now? That's the hypocrisy that needs greater focus.

Well, the national news wasn't filled with pictures of people marching in the open streets with nazi flags 10 years ago, for starters.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#66

Post by chrisstanchak »

I'm glad to see this at the top of HN.

If you aren't personally outraged by this, you should take a step back..try to be as objective as you possibly can...and consider what it really means.

We are watching the collapse of the First Amendment.

No matter how much we may hate what someone has to say, we should DEFEND the right for them to say it. That's a principle that makes this country what it is.

Somehow this power must be reigned in.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#67

Post by bloobloobloo »

jackmott wrote: post #40
bloobloobloo wrote: post #20

> Is it because good people prefer censorship? No, it's because the dominant ideology cannot survive debate. There's a reason why ethnic nationalism and race realism have exploded in popularity in the past five years, and it's not because the ringleaders are a bunch of trained hypnotists.

race realism? is that new word you made up for nazis?

> hurrr nazis ps my worldview requires me to remain this uninformed

Hey did you hear that 13 people died to a jihadi truck in Barcelona today? How many Muslim websites did Google knock offline in response? Or Cloudflare? How many Muslim accounts did Facebook and Twitter shut down?

I'm sure they're all scurrying to do just that, now that The Gloves Are Off in The War on Hate. Let's just wait and see.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#68

Post by chrisstanchak »

axaxs wrote: post #62

Sorry to comment twice on a thread...but after thinking more, I really feel this is a dangerous precedent. The internet has been largely dominated by a few companies. I'd go as far as to call them nearly ubiquitous. When these companies start pushing political views, and start banning or otherwise blocking dissent, it becomes dangerous. What if, in retaliation, farmers of the Midwest banned shipments to California? S…

This is terrifying.

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#69

Post by jacquesm »

KekDemaga wrote: post #53
jacquesm wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If some of the comments in this thread are to be believed he'd fit right in.

Care to point one out in particular?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15042346

Re: Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech

#70

Post by [deleted] »

GuiA wrote: post #46
Overtonwindow wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"when did all the platforms decide to start being the moral center of determining what's acceptable speech" When it became more profitable to do so, or they saw a PR angle. IMO businesses will cater to death cults that murder kittens if it makes money, but only until it becomes a PR problem. Real or imagined.

Or maybe they are private businesses run by people like you and me who like to have a say in what is published on their platform? For a community that is very pro-company founders, I have a hard time getting a lot of the kneejerk reactions here. Should physical stores not have a right to decide what they want and don't want to sell? Why should it be any different for Google's digital store? Even if their reason is "t…

[deleted]
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