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

Gab.com banned from PayPal

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 203 posts

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#131

Post by beatgammit »

DuskStar wrote: post #110
mikeash wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re different concepts, and disassociating with alt-right conspiracy nutcases is unrelated to free speech.

Banning alt-right conspiracy theory nutcases might just be related to free speech, however. And that's what most people seem to want Gab to do.

Yes, it's related to free speech, but I just want to point out that it has nothing to do with the US first amendment protections and likely has nothing to do with free speech laws in other areas as well, since those only restrict what government can do.

Choosing to disassociate from speech you don't like is yet another use of free speech, as is banning groups that use speech you don't like from your private platform.

So yeah, gab, Reddit, and Facebook are exercising their right to free speech.

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#132

Post by tinalumfoil »

village-idiot wrote: post #118
tinalumfoil wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a right not to be associated with hate This is neither a right in any theoretical system of human rights I've seen, nor is there any practical way to disassociate people from a basic human emotion.

Free association implies the freedom to not associate. You can’t make people be associated with hate groups. Also, don’t be cute about “hate”. We aren’t talking about the human emotion and you know it.

In the context of this conversation people don't have the right to disassociate with anyone they don't like. I'm not being "cute" about hate, and whatever you think hate is isn't relevant to my point. People simply do not have the right to do business with others chosen entirely from their own personal discretion. The US government can and does force businesses to provide services, at the risk of that business's existence, to unsavory entities.

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#133

Post by krapp »

meowface wrote: post #122
mikeash wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m suggesting that people who cry “freedom of speech” when others won’t do business with them, while simultaneously suppressing dissent among their own ranks, are using it as a rhetorical weapon rather than as a principle they follow but I completely.

I agree with you, but in this situation, who is "suppressing dissent among their own ranks"?

No one. Banning Gab.com isn't suppressing dissent, since Gab.com weren't dissenting against Paypal. Also, Gab.com weren't in "the ranks of" Paypal, nor was Paypal "in the ranks of" Gab.com.

Paypal had no apparent issue with Gab until recently, so politics being the catalyst of Paypal's decision seems unlikely in this case, as they could have banned Gab at any time. Rather, recent extenuating circumstances seem to have made a client relationship with Gab no longer tolerable for Paypal.

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#135

Post by atomical »

To be fair Sam Altman violates the guidelines.

> I am suspending my involvement with the NEOM advisory board until the facts regarding Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance are known. This is well out of my area of expertise, so I don’t plan to comment on the case until the investigation is finished. I remain a huge believer in the importance of building smart cities.

He decided to step back because a heterosexual male was murdered. How about the discrimination against LGBT and women in Saudi Arabia? I guess the money is just too good to turn down.

Nothing like a good photo op with a dictator that murders gays.

https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-OY406_UBERSA_P...

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#136

Post by tptacek »

atomical wrote: post #135

To be fair Sam Altman violates the guidelines. > I am suspending my involvement with the NEOM advisory board until the facts regarding Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance are known. This is well out of my area of expertise, so I don’t plan to comment on the case until the investigation is finished. I remain a huge believer in the importance of building smart cities. He decided to step back because a heterosexual male was…

None of this has anything to do with what I'm talking about. I think everyone doing business with Saudi Arabia has blood on their hands. I'm not interested in litigating the point further.

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#137

Post by atomical »

tptacek wrote: post #136
atomical wrote: post #135

To be fair Sam Altman violates the guidelines. > I am suspending my involvement with the NEOM advisory board until the facts regarding Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance are known. This is well out of my area of expertise, so I don’t plan to comment on the case until the investigation is finished. I remain a huge believer in the importance of building smart cities. He decided to step back because a heterosexual male was…

None of this has anything to do with what I'm talking about. I think everyone doing business with Saudi Arabia has blood on their hands. I'm not interested in litigating the point further.

It sure does since Sam Altman is grandstanding in the thread posted. Don't litigate it further. Why would I care?

Edit: I thought you were done?

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#138

Post by tptacek »

atomical wrote: post #137
tptacek wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of this has anything to do with what I'm talking about. I think everyone doing business with Saudi Arabia has blood on their hands. I'm not interested in litigating the point further.

It sure does since Sam Altman is grandstanding in the thread posted. Don't litigate it further. Why would I care? Edit: I thought you were done?

Sam Altman is the CEO of YC. I said that YC kicked out Andrew Torba for harassing batchmates. And lo, there's the CEO of YC, on a Hacker News thread, saying he kicked out Andrew Torba for harassing batchmates. There's probably nothing more to be said about it here.

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#139

Post by atomical »

tptacek wrote: post #123
meowface wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gab may have a large number of alt-right conspiracy nuts, but they also have a lot of users who rightfully mock those nutty people. It really is a platform for pure free speech. Unfortunately, its polarization was inevitable as Twitter and Reddit started cracking down on far-right users, leaving only pure free speech websites left for the crazies. But suggesting the website itself condones violence or sympathizes wit…

I don't know what "neo-Nazi" means to you, but if you'd like, we can refine our terminology and simply talk about "white supremacists and anti-Semites", at which point if will become very difficult for you to argue that the site doesn't "condone or sympathize with" those forces.

> Sam Altman is the CEO of YC. I said that YC kicked out Andrew Torba for harassing batchmates. And lo, there's the CEO of YC, on a Hacker News thread, saying he kicked out Andrew Torba for harassing batchmates. There's probably nothing more to be said about it here.

Ah yes, be dishonest about what was in the thread. Did you even read it?

Re: Gab.com banned from PayPal

#140

Post by commandlinefan »

jsheard wrote: post #24
rurounijones wrote: post #11

Can someone provide background context for gab.com?

It's ostensibly the "free speech" version of Twitter, in practice it mostly caters to the far-right. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter was a user: https://archive.fo/k63LE His profile has now been nuked by Gab, but only to save face after the shooting. They would usually pride themselves in not removing that kind of content.

I’ve noticed that uncensored discussion boards tend toward right-leaning, whereas moderated ones always end up tending left-leaning.
Post reply on HN