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Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

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Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#61

Post by andy_ppp »

ohithereyou wrote: post #42
andy_ppp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also argue that unfettered access to incorrect information is also a massive problem for democracy.

I don't want a Ministry of Truth filtering what I'm allowed to hear. In a functional democracy, education and robust debate are supposed to be the defenses against misinformation. Most western democracies long since scrapped proper education because it's easier to win the support of the population with propaganda^H public relations than it is to make a reasoned argument.

Do you think the education level is adequate enough to protect against people constantly propagating lies?

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#62

Post by cat199 »

bitcurious wrote: post #28

Given today’s culture I would think Twitter is doing you a favor. It’s better that you silently delete the post than have it be dug up by angry X and get you fired and ostracized.

    “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten,
     every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building
     has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is 
     continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.
     Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is 
     always right.”
― George Orwell, 1984

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#64

Post by katbyte »

tdxgx wrote: post #16
nailer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Getting banned for calling someone (a high rank politician!!!) a whore Also calling them a 'cunt'. Attitudes like the above are why ordinary men and women don't want to become politicians - it's assumed to be OK to insult them in any way. Why not just call Palin a hypocrite? You should be able to criticise politicians. However if you want better politicians, screaming that they're cunts and whores instead of commun…

If someone cant handle a verbal insult over the internet, I don't think they are fit for office

And that makes it ok? What about threats? Are they also ok?

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#65

Post by indigochill »

romaaeterna wrote: post #15

Unaccountable censorship of expression by our main communication providers is incompatible with Democracy. Communication is often a natural monopoly, and you can't just "start a competitor" to Twitter and have the market fix the problem (see gab.ai). If we're going to have censorship on the big platforms (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) and backbone providers (ISPs, Cloudfront), us normal human beings need…

If we look at some differences between Twitter (or insert your favorite social media platform here) and email:

* Email providers have zero responsibility for filtering information

* Email users form their own networks dynamically through actual relationships rather than some artificial structure of "followers"/"friends"

* Email users never get banned from sending email (although maybe in some cases an individual service may ban extreme abusers)

* Email's operation is totally independent of irrational mobs/corporate interests/whatever

In short, I think the core problem with this situation is in your first line: social media has become a "main communication provider" and it's fundamentally unfit for purpose. Email and other protocol-based communication independent of platforms (IRC is another good example) is still the best solution for a primary communication provider.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#66

Post by thedanbob »

onion90 wrote: post #25
chrisan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is definitely an immature tweet, however I think 9 years can change a person a lot. Maybe twitter could have given him a warning about his tweet and ask if he would like to delete it before the instaban algorithm hit

Twitter could, of course, have just given a warning. But I also don't see any problem treating the tweet as if it were current. The age of the tweet does not change whether it is acceptable or not, does it?

If someone calls you a racial slur, is it ok to wait nine years and then punch him in the face?

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#67

Post by leereeves »

andy_ppp wrote: post #61
ohithereyou wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want a Ministry of Truth filtering what I'm allowed to hear. In a functional democracy, education and robust debate are supposed to be the defenses against misinformation. Most western democracies long since scrapped proper education because it's easier to win the support of the population with propaganda^H public relations than it is to make a reasoned argument.

Do you think the education level is adequate enough to protect against people constantly propagating lies?

If you want someone to decide what's true because you believe the people aren't capable of doing so for themselves, you've already given up on democracy.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#68

Post by ohithereyou »

andy_ppp wrote: post #61
ohithereyou wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want a Ministry of Truth filtering what I'm allowed to hear. In a functional democracy, education and robust debate are supposed to be the defenses against misinformation. Most western democracies long since scrapped proper education because it's easier to win the support of the population with propaganda^H public relations than it is to make a reasoned argument.

Do you think the education level is adequate enough to protect against people constantly propagating lies?

Per my parent post:

>Most western democracies long since scrapped proper education because it's easier to win the support of the population with propaganda^H public relations than it is to make a reasoned argument.

In my mind, the correct response to the rise of FAKE NEWS (aka: yellow journalism, sensationalism, propaganda, public relations, advertisement) is to focus on teaching critical thinking skills, not to have a censor that says 'You can say this thing but not that thing'.

Will bad people have harmful, self serving opinions? Yes, they will. That's part and parcel of living in a free society.

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#69

Post by [deleted] »

mosselman wrote: post #32
gurkendoktor wrote: post #27

I am mostly amazed that Twitter's rule is not simply, "don't harass people". I guess this tweet is an offense specifically because it uses gendered harassment? Is there a list of gender-neutral insults that we can refer to for compliance reasons?

The thing is that this was 9 years ago. The landscape of what was acceptable back then is completely different from what it is now. Going back in time and banning people for this sort of thing is essentially the same as banning movies from the 60's because they don't show enough women driving cars or men helping out in the kitchen.

[deleted]

Re: Twitter locked my account for a nine year old tweet

#70

Post by wruza »

onion90 wrote: post #25
chrisan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is definitely an immature tweet, however I think 9 years can change a person a lot. Maybe twitter could have given him a warning about his tweet and ask if he would like to delete it before the instaban algorithm hit

Twitter could, of course, have just given a warning. But I also don't see any problem treating the tweet as if it were current. The age of the tweet does not change whether it is acceptable or not, does it?

That’s interesting question. Following this principle, should we ban historical books that suggest to e.g. kill self-claimed witches, treat nonbelievers as second-class people and so on?
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