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Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

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Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#41

Post by ddebernardy »

skrebbel wrote: post #2

I'm curious about how this is happening in America, of all places. As a European, I've always wondered (with a certain hint of jealousy, I might add) at the USA's absolute freedom of speech. People like the Westboro Baptist Church would've certainly been blocked from protesting here in the Netherlands. At the same time, it's now companies that are very American, both by origin and by culture, that are (letting themse…

Freedom of expression isn't at stake here. Your right to free speech - even the "disagree with what you say but fight for your right to say it" kind - doesn't entitle you to get broadcast or listened to.

https://xkcd.com/1357/

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#42

Post by ramblerman »

codemusings wrote: post #30
teamk wrote: post #6

Its pretty insane that public businesses are forbidden from discrimination on most grounds (political views, religious views, etc) of who it employs, or who can enter their business, but its perfectly fine for FB, Google, Apple, Twitter, etc., to completely control the content of the conversation on their platforms. It doesn't make sense that as a baker I can be forced to bake gay wedding cakes, or as a Restaurant ow…

> It doesn't make sense that as a baker I can be forced to bake gay wedding cakes, or as a Restaurant owner I can't open a 'straight white people only' restaurant [...] What is wrong with you? What happened to you as a child that made you think this form of discrimination is even remotely acceptable?

You are completely misunderstanding his point.

He is saying why is it OK for a small business to be forced to accommodate something that may be against their belief system. But the biggest corporations, who are also managing our online discourse, can pick and choose what they like.

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#43

Post by test001only »

Twitter put up a ban for 7 days because the account tweeted a video calling for violence against media. People commenting here either have not read the article or are deliberately bringing in false parity between call for violence and request for cake for a wedding. It would be outrageous if any media did not ban call for violence, especially by somebody with considerable following in the public.

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#44

Post by hanselot »

nasoieu wrote: post #32
Jacqued wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must say I have not been jealous of the US in this regard. In my opinion the state should be able to silence fascists and neo-nazis and jail them for hate speech. Unlike the US, people in Europe have experienced first hand what happens when you tolerate and enable them. Also I don't think you can call it "absolute freedom of speech" as some speech, like calls for murder of the usual fire in a theatre exemple, are i…

(Eastern) Europe has also experienced what happens when communists are in charge, yet communists are not being persecuted in any way, while fascists or nazis are. Something else is going on. Case in point: this comment is being downvoted without any explanation.

Its fine to say that something else is going on, as long as you don't ask what.

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#45

Post by joeblau »

skrebbel wrote: post #2

I'm curious about how this is happening in America, of all places. As a European, I've always wondered (with a certain hint of jealousy, I might add) at the USA's absolute freedom of speech. People like the Westboro Baptist Church would've certainly been blocked from protesting here in the Netherlands. At the same time, it's now companies that are very American, both by origin and by culture, that are (letting themse…

Freedom of speech does not apply to privately controlled products from private companies. Any one of these companies could create any arbitrary rule to regulate their platform and it's not a violation of free speech. The thought is that they operate in a capitalist system where they are optimizing for profits which means they need the most amount of customers so they are trying to accommodate everyone.

The same way all of these companies actively block spam on their platforms to improve user experiences. This is probably a result of analytics in inside Twitter where they realize that it's costing them subscribers and revenue.

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#46

Post by throw2016 »

This is great for Alex Jones, he gets global notoriety, free publicity and gets to be the martyr.

Given Alex Jones weakness for theatrics he is going to play up this 'conspiracy' against him to prove every other conspiracy theory he nurtures for the next 10 years.

The 'co-ordination' however is blatant and raises questions about whether they are trying to silence him or martyr him. Is this really necessary, why is it co-ordinated and so heavy handed?

The only logical explanation for it being so brazen is they are doing this against him as cover to silence more 'problematic' figures which would raise more serious concerns about dissent and free speech. But that's a conspiracy theory.

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#47

Post by legostormtroopr »

ddebernardy wrote: post #41
skrebbel wrote: post #2

I'm curious about how this is happening in America, of all places. As a European, I've always wondered (with a certain hint of jealousy, I might add) at the USA's absolute freedom of speech. People like the Westboro Baptist Church would've certainly been blocked from protesting here in the Netherlands. At the same time, it's now companies that are very American, both by origin and by culture, that are (letting themse…

Freedom of expression isn't at stake here. Your right to free speech - even the "disagree with what you say but fight for your right to say it" kind - doesn't entitle you to get broadcast or listened to. https://xkcd.com/1357/

Sure, within a few days he was banned from Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn - which covers almost all Internet traffic.

It was just 4 companies that banned him, not the government. He can just go to the alternate versions of those platforms...

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#48

Post by teh_klev »

sn41 wrote: post #28
skrebbel wrote: post #2

I'm curious about how this is happening in America, of all places. As a European, I've always wondered (with a certain hint of jealousy, I might add) at the USA's absolute freedom of speech. People like the Westboro Baptist Church would've certainly been blocked from protesting here in the Netherlands. At the same time, it's now companies that are very American, both by origin and by culture, that are (letting themse…

Clearchannel, which controlled most FM channels, infamously stopped playing John Lennon's "Imagine" after Sep 11 2001. So this is not new. In the absence of popular govt. media and channels, this does form de facto censorship in the US. The usual explanation I have heard is that free speech is limited to tge govt. not able to arrest you for criticising it. It does not apply to private parties. I think de facto censor…

> Clearchannel, which controlled most FM channels, infamously stopped playing John Lennon's "Imagine" after Sep 11 2001

This snopes article provides some background about what happened there:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/radio-radio/

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#49

Post by poisonborz »

pjc50 wrote: post #14
poisonborz wrote: post #11

This whole ordeal is a good example how f'd up the current internet infrastructure is. For a decade or so it just seems like the beginnings of a megacorp-ruled Blade Runner-ish world. While companies have all the right to have control over whatever on their platforms, there just isn't a well known unfiltered, unmoderated, "real" spot on the internet anymore that is known to all - just some niche spots requiring techn…

> stock-footage-showing happy-go-lucky feeds - comments, articles, posts disappearing without a trace, individuals banned, search results removed. Could you explain what you're referring to here?

Just the obvious: all the social media feeds you see are heavily moderated and shaped to ignite actions that are beneficial to advertisers/the platform. Comments, posts are removed without notice (except maybe the poster). Major search engines filter according to police warrants, media corp inquiries, "privacy rights" (eg. EU's "right to disappear" law).

As separated cases they don't seem like much - but knowing how few major platforms there are (covering like 90% of what most internet users see) this is catastrophic. What someone should see shouldn't be decided in some Middle-European FB contractor's moderator sweatshop.

Re: Twitter Suspends Alex Jones for Seven Days Over Tweet

#50

Post by pjc50 »

teamk wrote: post #26
pjc50 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The situation isn't symmetrical at all; it only appears to be if you ignore or misrepresent the history of power and violence involved. The list of protected characteristics is small and political views aren't usually on it per se.

I'm unsure of what the exact legal status is federally and per state (although I've heard claims that social media giants represent de facto public forums and thus are subject to some free expression requirements), I'm simply pointing out the inconsistency. Regarding "history of power and violence", well, if we compare the amount of violence and harassment right-wing events and meetings get (from Antifa, and other su…

> ompare the amount of violence and harassment right-wing events and meetings get (from Antifa, and other such orgs), vs. how relatively undisturbed gay pride events are

.. you find that you know nothing about why Pride exists and what it's for? Homophobic attacks on Pride marches themselves are relatively rare in the West these days, but individual random street attacks, abuse and discrimination against gay people are not.

(also, you seem to have forgotten that the US president and both houses are currently in power, or does that not count?)

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