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Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

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Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#111

Post by detaro »

scarface74 wrote: post #80
detaro wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here the main issue complex is IMHO that a) the ability to access is counted, b) this is penalized despite the system shipping with apps doing that too and c) the policy isn't consistently applied. Roughly, web browsers, podcast players and Fediverse clients (and probably a bunch of other apps, those are just obvious examples) all fetch contents from a user-supplied source over HTTP(S) and display it. As long as they…

So what do you propose? Not only have most HN users been advocating that the platform vendors allow alternate means of installing apps and being forced to do so by the government, now do you also want the government to make rules about what is allowed in the App Store?

I propose for Google to apply their guidelines consistently and fairly. Ideally on their own. If it takes a shitstorm every time, that's very annoying (but helped last time they tried to play this game with podcast apps) but at least fixes the problem for a bit. Maybe there is grounds for a lawsuit if they apply it massively unfairly, I'm not a legal expert on that.

Looking back at our last discussion, you have a serious problem of equating everything with a call for government intervention.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#112

Post by angio »

crocodiletears wrote: post #79
angio wrote: post #24

My favorite app is Tusky and is still available from F-Droid [0]. I think Tusky will be fine since they block Gab and so they won't be affected by this ban. [0] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.keylesspalace.tusky/

Been looking for a good client. Can you disable the block on Gab? I know the place is a cesspool, but I don't like the idea of missing content because an app developer doesn't like an instance.

There's Husky, a fork of Tusky that allows users connect to Gab.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#113

Post by HelloMcFly »

quotemstr wrote: post #96
moneywoes wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those alternatives seem full of hate speech though

So? Any platform free of censorship is going to have some speech you dislike.

Well, because I don't want to join communities where hate speech is common, much less the prevailing type of content. I don't think that speech should be outlawed, but that doesn't mean I want to be where it is. So if reddit helps remove hate speech and it funnels to these alternatives, that only makes reddit more attractive to me.

Plainly: I want reddit to censor hate speech on their site, but I don't want hosting companies to disallow those alernative sites to exist, nor do I want Chrome to disallow any user to visit any of those alternatives in their browser.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#114

Post by emteycz »

vbezhenar wrote: post #109
mc32 wrote: post #95

It always starts like that. People agree to very sensible things. Like hate speech is bad and it’s not censorship if it’s not mandated by the government. Eventually the definition of hate or whatever it is that’s offensive is very removed from the original meaning, and now we all bear the brunt of the sensible people who with best intentions wanted to make things better.

It might be Apple forcing them to do so. For example you can't publish app with porn content. Even if your app is some kind of forum, you're obliged at least to filter out explicit content in the app. Browser seems to be an exception.

Apple is forcing Google to remove apps from play store? How?

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#115

Post by krapp »

quotemstr wrote: post #96
moneywoes wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those alternatives seem full of hate speech though

So? Any platform free of censorship is going to have some speech you dislike.

There are few if any platforms on the open web free of censorship, they just draw their line in the sand in a different arbitrary place than others.

Banning illegal content, spam, harassment, etc (which even the most hardcore "censorship free" platforms do) are also forms of censorship.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#116

Post by vmception »

Medicalidiot wrote: post #94
john_moscow wrote: post #64

For anyone else concerned with the recent Big Tech censorship, people are actively building alternative social medial platforms and they are taking off. The RedditAlternatives subreddit [0] provides a fairly good overview of them. Some are rather extreme, others are more reasonable, but there are alternatives, and it's up to us, the reasonable people, to choose where we want to spend our time and money. [0] https://w…

I was an early adopter of Voat during the first Reddit purge but it turned into a racist cesspool. I'm wondering how many of these alternatives will follow that trend.

They typically get addicted to advertising dollars and clean their sites up

Opening an opportunity for someone else to sell the same "my fictional private sector free speech assurances that I imagined were part of the constitution are being upheld here" story to build a community

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#117

Post by MyNameIsMyName »

quotemstr wrote: post #96
moneywoes wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those alternatives seem full of hate speech though

So? Any platform free of censorship is going to have some speech you dislike.

Censorship not related to government always strikes me as just complaining. Private entities, whether they be individuals or businesses should be free to determine what is an acceptable uses of their services, and what is not.

Do you allow any form of speech in your house or is your house a platform that censors speech?

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#120

Post by quotemstr »

drdeca wrote: post #110
quotemstr wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So? Any platform free of censorship is going to have some speech you dislike.

There’s a difference between “has some of it” and “is full of it”. As SSC says, even if witch hunts are genuinely bad, if you found a town with the founding principle of having no witch hunts, you will end up with a town with 5 genuine civil libertarians, and 100 witches. I think an interesting strategy would be to found a site with an initially high level of censorship, but a public commitment to reduce the amount/d…

No, there's no difference between "has some of it" and "is full of it". Where could the line possibly be drawn between those two? Why should your values in particular control other people's speech? If you don't want to participate on a discussion because it's full of something you dislike, that's your call. But big tech companies have no business shutting down other people's legal conversations.
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