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Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

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Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#761
post #747

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I don't think it's going to have the impact you think it will. The major criticism for S230 is that social media companies are rampant with fake news, and not doing enough to combat misinformation. If anything, it gives FB and Twitter a defense against an accusation of spreading political misinformation.

The only thing that terrifies me more than Trump is the number of my tech industry colleagues who seem to think we can and should abuse our power to shape public discourse.

You already do, don't you? Social Media created an algorithm based add industry that was and is easily highjacked for bad-faith propaganda purposes. A system that at its core is designed to exploit human psychology in ways and scales we never saw before. You cannot create such things, keep them under your control and just ignore the consequences.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#762
post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The part where a sloppily fabricated email was put onto a bogus laptop (probably by foreign intelligence agents), and then “coincidentally” made its way right back to Rudy Giuliani (who was at the time neck deep in the effort to extort a foreign leader into announcing a fake investigation into the same non-scandal, for which the President has already been impeached). Giuliani passed the emails via Steve Bannon (Trump…

You do realise the Biden campaign has made a statement not denying the legitimacy of the email?

He also hasn't denied hunting deer out of season at Bear's Bend State Park, Coyote Corners, Maine. Your point?

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it just poured liquid oxygen on the "reform section 230" fire you're seeing from both sides of the aisle - one using the censorship reason, the other using the disinformation reason The GOP is prioritizing § 230 reform. Given their likely fall from power and prioritization of the SCOTUS confirmation, as well as Democrat control of the House and its focus on stimulus bills, the short-term threat is minute. From an a…

GOP is talking big about Section 230 reform, but it is absurd on its face. Prior to Section 230, if you censor ANY content (say, child pornography) then you are "moderating" the discussion and are liable for ALL content. If Twitter deletes a death threat tweet, why didn't they delete the defamatory tweet against Hunter Biden or whomever? Biden could sue. So Section 230 allows websites to delete the kiddie porn withou…

This is the first comment I've seen in this discussion that accurately summarizes what section 230 does, and what its removal would mean.

It's rather sad that it has been downvoted, and those doing the downvoting should think a bit about their motivations.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#764
post #50
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it distribution control rather than editorial control?

Limiting distribution to filter out what you don't want to rise to the top has the same effect as explicitly picking winners. Think of it like shooting the tires of all the cars you want to lose in a race. Sure you didn't push the winner across the finish line, but you made it damn near impossible for anyone else to even get there.

And this is exactly what social media does all the time, or rather their recommendation algorithms. Which, for some reason, is no problem at all. Now that the bias of these algorithms is changing, also by directly intervening, it is a big problem.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#765

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you just speculating, or is there actual proof that the article is fake? Twitter seems to think it contains at least some authentic material that was obtained illicitly. The FBI has confirmed the authenticity of subpoenas in the past and I'm confident that they'd be able to do so before November. Determining if the pictures are photoshopped is trickier but could probably also be done relatively quickly Edit- I hi…

The supposed leaker has contradicted his own claims about the material, has refused to release evidence (like cryptographic signatures) that might prove whether the emails actually passed through email servers, and he is a zealous Trump booster, (supposedly) hid the information from the public for a year in order to maximize campaigns impact instead of sharing it immediately upon discovery, and none of the Republican…

Jeez, don’t take your computer to Best Buy if you view the world that way: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/geek-squads-relationsh...

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#766

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Works for me on the desktop version, i.e. it isn't censored, I haven't checked though in their direct Facebook Messenger app. Also, am not from the US, have sent the joebiden.info link for testing to my gf who's also not from the US.

Facebook and Twitter blocks items in the US that they do not block internationally.

TIL, very interesting.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#767
post #504
post #361

Crux of the issue is that everyone knows there’s a double standard. Why do they co-ordinate to block this story and not the countless other “unverified” scoops? Because it threatens a protected politician.

Isn't it because a hack was involved?

What's the definition of hack? If we believe NY Post's story, did a hack happen? Or are we assuming NY Post's story is false, and the materials came from an unreported hack?

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#768
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the NY Post considered a serious newspaper over there?

It's one of those papers in the strange intersection of "mainstream tabloid". It's clearly not serious, as you can see from a quick glance at their typical cover pages, but it's also not one of the papers everyone knows is untrustworthy schlock.

And it's a paper whose headlines are more widely cited than the articles, because it's known for the catchy headlines.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#769
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this being downvoted? As far as I can tell from reading the article, this is an accurate summary. The provided evidence that said laptop is genuinely connected with Hunter Biden is 1) a Biden sticker on the laptop, 2) the fact that it's a Delaware repair shop, and 3) a pornographic video featuring somebody who "appears to be" Hunter Biden. What about this is convincing evidence?

They're also declaring a "smoking gun" of Hunter peddling influence when the only data point is an email from a Ukrainian to Hunter saying that he was looking forward to meeting the Vice President. There doesn't seem to be any message from Hunter, and Joe has already said his official schedule is public record and no meeting ever happened.

I think what’s considered the smoking gun here is the direct contradiction of what Biden has publicly attested to. This, in the context of Hunter’s questionable nexus of high compensation, dearth of professional qualification, and familial connections. All of this in context of Biden’s last failed presidential run.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#770

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's amusing about this whole thing to me is that Facebook and Twitter dropping the ban hammer on this piece will Streisand the hell out of it. If they'd left it alone, it would've been lost in the news cycle with everything else going on and no one would remember it in a week. Now the story is, once again, "Big Tech censors conservatives".

It's already lost in the news cycle. Not trending on twitter. Impotently reverberating on Parler.

This post has some 700 comments at the time I’m reading it, and has blown up compared to the coverage it had this morning. No doubt it will get lost eventually, but I think the ham-handed, nakedly political actions of twitter’s censors have become a story in their own right now.
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