Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

thedailybeast.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 153 posts

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#31

Post by twiceaday »

darpa_escapee wrote: post #6
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #3

Honestly, "Those are the eyes of a rat" is a fairly tame insult compared to the kind of toxic drivel Jones usually says, and seems like weak grounds for termination. He should've been kicked off long ago, but I fear that having this particular example be the "final straw" is only going to strengthen the alt-right's persecution complex.

The thing about persecution complexes is that those who have them will find persecution in anything, so it's kind of a waste of energy to worry about what might trigger those prone to thinking in such a way.

This is overly simplistic. Everybody has their own thresholds. The tamer the 'last straw' the easier it is to twist the message.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#32

Post by malvosenior »

rhizome wrote: post #26
malvosenior wrote: post #5

> “Those are the eyes of a rat,” There's no way they can ban him for saying that yet still claim to enforce the rules equally for all political affiliations. There have been thousands (maybe more) tweets by people with blue verification checkmarks calling Trump an orange oompa loopa and much worse. No one has been banned for that (rightfully so imo). There's been a ton of pressure on Twitter to ban Jones but using th…

There's no way they can ban him for saying that yet still claim to enforce the rules equally for all political affiliations. It's not the government, they absolutely can ban people for anything they want and they don't have to be consistent about it. There's nothing you can do about this it than deleting your account, complaining about them on the internet, and/or acquiring a seat on their board of directors and effe…

> Furthermore, "neutrality" is a figment of your imagination.

Neutral is what Dorsey claimed in the video I linked to. I'm saying here is direct evidence, the next day, that they are not actually neutral.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#34

Post by staticassertion »

yitosda wrote: post #24
CharlesW wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does seem tame, but a quick search suggests it may be an anti-semitic dog whistle.

Much of the point of a dog whistle (as I understand it) is plausible deniability. The parent comment stands: shutting it down over something that "may mean something" -- even though with context you may be quite sure -- is a bad look. The next step is simply to point at the myriad of other times anyone called someone a rat on Twitter and Twitter is left to defend a position of shutting people down over what they were…

Or we should just be willing to call dog whistles what they are and stop feeling the need to respond when people cry 'but that person used the word rat over there!'.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#36

Post by ourmandave »

I never watched infowars or read anything Jones said or wrote.

But to think there are people who believe his crazy sh*t is really scary. Like the guy shooting up a pizza shop because of Pizzagate.

I compare him to the World Weekly News (next to the People magazines) from way back where they'd show a picture of space aliens shaking hands with the president.

Why does anyone believe this crap?

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#37

Post by MBCook »

funkythings wrote: post #9

No matter what you think of Jones: Silicon Valley is digging their own grave with their blatantly obvious double standards towards "hate speech" and other forms of harassment.

Really?

I’d say no matter what you think of Jones you should be celebrating this as it means Twitter is holding to their own published policies.

The nonsense of banning people for X, unless they famous, unless they’re the wrong KIND of famous, or are being attacked by someone and asking “Why do they get to say X to me” stuff is a mess.

How can anyone run a platform if the rules are in constant flux on a per day/user/reason/moon phase basis?

Half the problem over the last few years is the quicksand of rules. Punishments applied unevenly start to look an awful lot favoritism even when there isn’t any there.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#38

Post by astrodust »

minimaxir wrote: post #2

Official statement: https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1037804427992686593 > Today, we permanently suspended @RealAlexJones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations. https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/abusive-behav...

Somehow this is just the babiest of baby steps. Infowars has a lot more than one Twitter account, and there's a lot of accounts other than Infowars that need to be thrown off Twitter.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#39

Post by colpabar »

ourmandave wrote: post #36

I never watched infowars or read anything Jones said or wrote. But to think there are people who believe his crazy sh*t is really scary. Like the guy shooting up a pizza shop because of Pizzagate. I compare him to the World Weekly News (next to the People magazines) from way back where they'd show a picture of space aliens shaking hands with the president. Why does anyone believe this crap?

Your first statement may give you a clue towards your closing question.

Re: Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars

#40

Post by godzillabrennus »

ourmandave wrote: post #36

I never watched infowars or read anything Jones said or wrote. But to think there are people who believe his crazy sh*t is really scary. Like the guy shooting up a pizza shop because of Pizzagate. I compare him to the World Weekly News (next to the People magazines) from way back where they'd show a picture of space aliens shaking hands with the president. Why does anyone believe this crap?

There are a lot of people who have lost faith in the system of government that has largely forgotten them.

Their kids are drug addicts.

Their towns look like war zones.

They have no ability to earn a living.

They seek to be recognized and valued.

They seek to matter to someone.

In Alex Jones they find a leader who understands their issues and makes it easy to understand who to blame.

If we want to disarm Alex we need to recognize there are real problems in America outside of the coastal areas.

Post reply on HN