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Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

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Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#41

Post by clusterfish »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #18
joshfraser wrote: post #3

Free speech has taken quite a beating in recent days. It's weird watching many of my friends and people I respect cheering while it happens. I honestly don't know what we do to fix our current situation where lies so easily go viral, but making Twitter arbiters of truth doesn't seem like the best solution.

You've never had free speech on somebody else's property.

You also never had the ability to be talking on somebody else's property while sitting in your own home until very recently. Things change. The streets are still public but the streets aren't where we're talking anymore.

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#43

Post by stale2002 »

iamdbtoo wrote: post #13
joshfraser wrote: post #3

Free speech has taken quite a beating in recent days. It's weird watching many of my friends and people I respect cheering while it happens. I honestly don't know what we do to fix our current situation where lies so easily go viral, but making Twitter arbiters of truth doesn't seem like the best solution.

Twitter is a community and all communities require some level of moderation. There's never a situation where you let people say whatever they want, whenever they want without any moderation at all and everything goes well. You have to set some of sort of standard. We already do this as a society, so why shouldn't that extend to Twitter?

> There's never a situation where you let people say whatever they want

What? There are tons of places where the only restrictions on what you say, is determined by the law.

> You have to set some of sort of standard

The standard could be "Whatever is allowed by US law", which is extremely non restrictive on speech.

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#44

Post by joshfraser »

matchbok wrote: post #21
joshfraser wrote: post #3

Free speech has taken quite a beating in recent days. It's weird watching many of my friends and people I respect cheering while it happens. I honestly don't know what we do to fix our current situation where lies so easily go viral, but making Twitter arbiters of truth doesn't seem like the best solution.

I'm not sure you understand what "free speech" is, because it doesn't apply to Twitter, at all, in any way.

Mmmm the dictionary says it means "the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint"

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#45

Post by snazz »

tpmx wrote: post #38
googthrowaway42 wrote: post #24

Reading these headlines is like living in a dystopian waking nightmare. This is not remotely at all the role that Twitter or any other Silicon Valley tech company should play in society.

This is what the outsized tolerance for internal political activism inside SV companies has resulted in. (European observer)

Without getting into the argument of whether any speech is apolitical or whether politics belongs in the workplace, Twitter clearly has a huge place in politics as a result of its nature as the premier social media platform for world leaders and journalists and anyone with an opinion today.

Regardless of their internal culture, Twitter will always have to make some political decisions.

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#46

Post by easton »

Most of these decisions seem to be going in the right direction, but there is something ultra dystopian about the phrase “monitoring the integrity of the conversation” that gives me the jeebies. Why not just say “Moderators will be extra active and we’ll adjust as necessary until the election is over?”

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#47

Post by roughly »

I'm fascinated by the comments here, which seem to be assuming that Twitter is operating in an environment in which the predominate source of trending information is well-meaning individuals and not motivated state-level actors intent on disrupting an election.

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#48

Post by stale2002 »

krapp wrote: post #37
joshfraser wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not seeking alternative truth. Everyone cheers for Twitter because they think they are going to censor people in a way they agree with. But what about the day that changes? What about the day they decide to censor you instead? On one hand, I agree that businesses should be free to operate as they like & you can vote with your feet if you don't like the rules. However, we also have to be realistic about the fact t…

>But what about the day that changes? What about the day they decide to censor you instead? What about it? People get banned from Twitter all the time - literally every hosted platform and service moderates and bans content as they see fit. The terms of service you agreed to when using that platform likely includes phrases like "for any reason" and "in perpetuity throughout the universe." So I guess I make another ac…

> That's not exactly the boot of fascism stomping on your face forever.

Alright. Let's say that all of the major social media platforms ban any discussion of raising their taxes, or enacting more regulation on them, or let's say they straight up ban major politicians from the platform.

Oh, and also there is no other significant competitor that matters, and it is unlikely that any competitors will pop up anytime soon.

Are you just OK with that? You are just going to say "well, I guess it is their platform, and they can do what they want, and it doesn't matter that no competitor has any significant chance of being successful".

> They only control their one platform, they don't control the internet

Ok, now what is almost all of the major platforms do it, and there are no serious competitors?

Let's expand this out even further. What if Walmart did the same thing? Along with multiple other grocery stores.

You want to raise their taxes, well sorry, you probably aren't going to be able to buy food from any major grocery store.

Or how about if common carrier laws were removed and your power company did it? Or the water company, now that this is legal?

Your passive acceptance of this type of being can be extrapolated out to horrifying results.

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#49

Post by haunter »

matchbok wrote: post #28
thaumasiotes wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://reason.com/2020/10/07/phony-fact-checking-on-forest-... (Facebook, not Twitter)

Reason is not a reputable source on anything.

Well according to Twitter they are reputable so there it goes

Re: Additional steps we're taking ahead of the 2020 US Election

#50

Post by _qulr »

helen___keller wrote: post #36
_qulr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Twitter is a community Twitter has 330 million monthly active users and 145 million daily active users. Is that a community? It seems more like an unruly mob. :-) I agree with the point that all online forums should have moderation, but for me the question is, should something like Twitter even exist? A centralized world discussion forum is not necessarily a good and healthy thing. Can humanity handle having Twitte…

> Can humanity handle having Twitter? Even if the answer is no, pandora's box is opened. If twitter disappeared, 5 copycat sites/apps would emerge from the ashes overnight.

> If twitter disappeared, 5 copycat sites/apps would emerge from the ashes overnight.

5 is not necessarily a problem. 1 is a problem. :-)

It's not easy to reach "critical mass" though. Many social networks have tried and failed. Certainly the Twitter alternatives (e.g., App Dot Net) tried and failed. And hopefully we've all learned some lessons from Twitter and won't make the same mistakes again.

Or if we did make the same mistakes again, then humanity is truly doomed, and there's nothing we can do to stop it...

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