If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
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If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
1–10 of 44 posts
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#2Sorry, I'm really not seeing the jump to "treason" here. I also think the author has a personal vendetta against Twitter based on the final sentence of the post, but regardless - they acknowledge that declaration of war is a congressional power, and that contempt of Congress is a possibility - but somehow this means that removal of a post from a member of the executive branch is treason?
Would the New York Times refusing to run a story about how war was declared be treason? What about CSPAN cutting away the broadcast in the middle of a war announcement?
I don't think so, in either case, and I don't think it's the case for Twitter either - because them not carrying the information doesn't change the material facts of the declaration. They're not interfering in an official congressional process in any capacity, because they're not part of an official congressional process.
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#3No, for assistance to an enemy to be treasonable, war must actually have been declared, and only Congress can declare war. Actually waging war on the US is treasonable without a Congressional declaration, but the definition depends on a state of "open war" in which you're part of a recognized assembled group of people engaged in open armed hostilities.
The short answer to almost all these kinds of questions is "it's never treason".
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#4> If twitter wanted heads of state off their platform, they would have asked them long ago. They put up with everything because like me and the rest of the internet they’re celebrity vampires.
Maybe they don't put up with anything. I couldn't find any official complaint of a Twitter inc. spokesperson about having to "put up" with what any head of state is doing on their platform.
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#5Sorry, I'm really not seeing the jump to "treason" here. I also think the author has a personal vendetta against Twitter based on the final sentence of the post, but regardless - they acknowledge that declaration of war is a congressional power, and that contempt of Congress is a possibility - but somehow this means that removal of a post from a member of the executive branch is treason? Would the New York Times refu…
You and me have an extremely different definition of personal vendetta!
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#6No, for assistance to an enemy to be treasonable, war must actually have been declared, and only Congress can declare war. Actually waging war on the US is treasonable without a Congressional declaration, but the definition depends on a state of "open war" in which you're part of a recognized assembled group of people engaged in open armed hostilities. The short answer to almost all these kinds of questions is "it's…
1) You're assuming this ONLY discusses the possibility of the US declaring war via tweet. The article clearly talks about ANY country that could declare war via tweet.
2) It specifically addresses the question of the US and Congress. https://abe-winter.github.io/2019/10/18/tweason.html#can-a-t...
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#7Obviously not, since the account can be compromised. (Especially when it comes to Twitter and how they handle 2-Factor)
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#8Sorry, I'm really not seeing the jump to "treason" here. I also think the author has a personal vendetta against Twitter based on the final sentence of the post, but regardless - they acknowledge that declaration of war is a congressional power, and that contempt of Congress is a possibility - but somehow this means that removal of a post from a member of the executive branch is treason? Would the New York Times refu…
> They're not interfering in an official congressional process in any capacity, because they're not part of an official congressional process.
This is the crux of it I'd say.
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#9In tech communities, we often have discussions/debates about the value and/or necessity of hosting content and data on servers we own, because we fear losing everything stored on cloud servers beyond our control. The current White House seems to be the very opposite in its lack of qualm or reflection. Which is ironic because the WH has long had a decent software stack (made even better by federal budgets and staffing) to publish, host disseminate, and secure content on servers completely under their control – arguably as close to reliability and digital permanence as the Library of Congress or Internet Archive.
I know the federal archivists have logistics and software in place to automatically collect and archive digital content [0]. But that doesn't do much for real-time current announcements made on Twitter or Facebook. In the hypothetical event in which the President posts something that could irrevocably lead to diplomatic disaster and war, it's not impossible to imagine a tech executive, or even low-level employee, having a Vasily Arkhipov moment and making the unilateral decision to censor/ban the president.
From the perspective of the White House and the President, of course, it's deeply undesirable to have a main communication channel cut off, especially during an emergency. And yet President Trump has stoked a mindset among the public and media to see his Twitter as the direct feed of executive-level news and decision making, without any concern that Twitter's execs have ultimate veto power over his channel.
[0] https://archivesocial.com/whitehouse/
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov_(vice_admiral)
Re: If a tweet declares war, is it treason to take it down?
#10No, for assistance to an enemy to be treasonable, war must actually have been declared, and only Congress can declare war. Actually waging war on the US is treasonable without a Congressional declaration, but the definition depends on a state of "open war" in which you're part of a recognized assembled group of people engaged in open armed hostilities. The short answer to almost all these kinds of questions is "it's…
1) You're assuming this ONLY discusses the possibility of the US declaring war via tweet. The article clearly talks about ANY country that could declare war via tweet. 2) It specifically addresses the question of the US and Congress. https://abe-winter.github.io/2019/10/18/tweason.html#can-a-t...
Would it be possible for Twitter to commit treason against another country at all?