Live data from Hacker News

Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

techcrunch.com

91–97 of 97 posts

Re: Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

#91
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A company is located in a physical place and has to follow the laws in that place. I am 100% sure that if youtube started to reject all content from Muslims then they would get hit by a discrimination law suit and end up in court over it. The argument would be that google, youtube server, or the user is located in a physical place with anti-discrimination laws, and based on that users has rights.

As I mentioned earlier, my understanding is that as a corporation based in the US, Twitter is governed in part by Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act of 1996[1], which consists of the following: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." How a conflict between Section 230 and…

To give an example of how the law sometimes work, Sweden has a similar law to section 230 called "The law regarding electronic billboards", which gives the provider legal space to operate as a intermediate without legal liability in regard to the message. During the Pirate Bay trial the founders argue that this gave them protection.

The prosecutor and later the court judgment cited a different law, one which was created in order to give the police the power to seize biker bars from organized crime. They argued that the website, just like a biker bar, allowed for "primarily" illegal activity and thus made the founder liable for operating it and gives the police the power to seize it in order to stop further crime.

Even if twitter, google or any other private operated website is not treated as the publisher or speaker, the operators can still be charged under any law that do not distinguish on the accused being the publisher or speaker.

Re: Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

#92
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For someone who doesn't live in Russia, the difference is academic, and they are far more similar, than they are different. Actually, now that I think about it - one key difference is that shitty sugary drinks have killed more Americans then the Russian government did. Another is that corporations buying candidates, by virtue of sponsoring their political campaigns have done more to undermine, subvert, and corrupt de…

> Actually, now that I think about it - one key difference is that shitty sugary drinks have killed more Americans then the Russian government did. The difference is agency. The people that chose to drink those drinks were able to make that decision, not helpless to some corporation. You don't get to choose not to be assassinated by a Russian agent.

That's a load of crock. By that same argument, since you have the agency to think for yourself and vote however you want, foreign propaganda should have zero impact on our elections.

I also don't have any choice in whether or not I personally get to deal with the negative social impacts of overconsumption of sugary drinks, overextraction of fossil fuels, or politicians bought by the healthcare cartels. I have to live with all of it.

Re: Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

#93
post #9
post #2

I’ve been wondering for a while whether I should delete my Twitter account and this piece of news suggests to me that perhaps I should. The sentence “Fomenting political discord” sounds a lot like 1984.

Not the first time I've heard someone argue that state-sponsored agitprop is free speech, while suppressing it on a private platform is somehow dystopian. Ignorance is strength?

> state-sponsored agitprop

as defined by the board of Twitter, Inc.? I stand by my "ignorance" then.

Re: Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

#94
post #3
post #2

I’ve been wondering for a while whether I should delete my Twitter account and this piece of news suggests to me that perhaps I should. The sentence “Fomenting political discord” sounds a lot like 1984.

In the article, the accounts were "actively spreading misinformation and encouraging unrest in politically sensitive climates." Sounds fine to me. Overreaction much?

> "actively spreading misinformation and encouraging unrest"

Isn't this the way many dictators describe democracy movements? How do we know if it's one or the other? Twitter is not a government, you can't submit a freedom of information request, we don't know what methodology they've used.

Re: Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

literature and history be damned, we should all stand in obedient awe of some lisp nerd's rules for meaningful conversation

You know, on that lisp nerd's site, yes, you kind of do have to follow their rules.

I would if I could.

They are rather subjective, and arbitrarily enforced. I'm a nerd, not a mind-reader!

Re: Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

#96
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Actually, now that I think about it - one key difference is that shitty sugary drinks have killed more Americans then the Russian government did. The difference is agency. The people that chose to drink those drinks were able to make that decision, not helpless to some corporation. You don't get to choose not to be assassinated by a Russian agent.

That's a load of crock. By that same argument, since you have the agency to think for yourself and vote however you want, foreign propaganda should have zero impact on our elections. I also don't have any choice in whether or not I personally get to deal with the negative social impacts of overconsumption of sugary drinks, overextraction of fossil fuels, or politicians bought by the healthcare cartels. I have to live…

Partially, yeah. I do think that. Responsibility stops with the voter. The way we combat misinformation is with more information (like fact checks and advertiser transparency) and never censorship.

Re: Twitter discloses 10k accounts suspended for fomenting political discord

#97
post #37
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inconvenient truths often get mislabeled as misinformation.

What truths are being labeled as misinformation here?

If I knew and told you that for this very site I'd get banned. If the truths weren't inconvenient, no one would bother mislabeling them.
Post reply on HN