Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store • Hacker News Board

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#461

Post by klodolph » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:33 AM UTC

PurpleFoxy wrote: post #376

valuearb wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you must have a native mobile app, you can download it from alternative stores. Or Parlour can just distribute as a web app. Businesses don’t have any right to force other businesses to carry their products.

This is a big point. I feel it’s acceptable for google to remove whatever they want because android allows you to install the apk directly. IMO apple should either be forced to allow side loading apps or to accept everything within reason to the App Store.

You can already side load apps on iOS, you just need to go through some hoops (install Xcode, compile the app, create a developer account, futz about with certificates) but you don’t have to pay any money (you don’t have to pay the $99/year, that’s only necessary if you want to sell apps).

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#462

Post by cthalupa » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

Nacdor wrote: post #150

dleslie wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost like there was some sort of catalyst event that occurred very recently that would provoke such a response. /s

I'm curious why so many Democrats were allowed to encourage the BLM riots (more than 25 dead, $2 billion in property damage) without so much as a peep from Google, Twitter, Facebook or any other tech giant. Kamala Harris said "they should not stop" and helped with a bail fund for the people who were involved with them. I think protest is a fundamental requirement of democracy, and as Chris Cuomo himself reminded us:…

If you don't understand the difference between a people that have faced subjugation, systemic racism, and generational poverty for two hundred years protesting - and yes, at times, rioting - upon continued police brutality and a bunch of people promoting sedition and talking about being a part of a revolution as they invade the Capitol building because their favorite person lost a free and fair election, I don't really know what to tell you.

I wouldn't give much of a damn if these people had burned down a Target or Quick Stop, either. But they ran into the capitol while many of them were actively talking about it being a revolution. With people talking about grabbing Congresspeople and having military tribunals. People went in with zipcuffs and firearms. Multiple bombs were planted.

This was an attempted coup. A poorly thought out one, a poorly executed one, and sure, not everyone that ran in had such grand aspirations. But plenty did, and plenty were open about it.

Go check out ParlerWatch on Reddit. Look at what's actually being posted on there. People calling for the violent overthrow of the government. People talking about murdering lawmakers. People cheering on those that invaded the capitol and calling for more.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#463

Post by nnspired » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #342

danijelb wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Real censorship means that the government prosecutes you for speech, no matter where or how or to whom are you saying it. That was happening in parts of Europe from 1945 to 1990. This what is happening in USA right now is nowhere near that. It's just free market. If you're banned from a certain platform you can reach your audience in another way. No one is censoring your speech. It's just a certain company not wantin…

Censorship has a very simple definition, and it can be conducted by private companies. From Wikipedia: “Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient." Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions, and other controlling bodies.” “Real” censorship is just censorsh…

But it’s not “true” censorship because I don’t like it either. \s

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#464

Post by blisterpeanuts » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

swalsh wrote: post #47

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #8

But they can't ban the website and they can't stop sideloading, can they?

Do you use the official build of Google Chrome?

I use Brave, but obviously most people just use "browser" (that icon of a globe or whatever) and have no idea.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#465

Post by whiddershins » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

awillen wrote: post #17

Good for them for not bothering with the half-assed CYA nonsense Apple is doing. "Give us a moderation plan in 24 hours" is just such a ridiculously unmeetable demand (at least if they require that plan to be anything close to actually feasible) that it's just pointless. Just kick them off. And to the people complaining about censorship, this is an app that was literally used to plan a violent attack on the capitol.…

If it was used that way, people can be prosecuted, likely will be prosecuted, on those facts.

We have a whole criminal justice system, well staffed and well funded, that addresses this concern.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#466

Post by zapita » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

proc0 wrote: post #269

roberto wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not censorship, it's free market. These are private companies.

Censorship opposes the free market of ideas. Maybe it's a private company, but it doesn't make sense to use that principle to justify a behavior that kills free markets, economic or not. At best it's hypocritical, taking advantage of competition at the market level, but then preventing that competition within your company, then praising one and condemning the other. It's not consistent, platforms need to be platforms…

Corporate sponsorship under pressure from “woke” customers is in fact a manifestation of free markets. These corporations are making editorial decisions based on what their customers want. Right now their customers want less overt coordination of political violence on their platforms. Therefore the platforms are complying.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#467

Post by PurpleFoxy » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

andrewvc wrote: post #36

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parler has terms of service that prohibit calls for violence. My guess is that the moderators (I'm one) simply can't keep up with the volume.

If you run a social network and can’t keep up with moderation for calls for violence you shouldn’t be allowed to be in business. This goes for the big tech companies as well. “It’s hard” is not an excuse.

Exactly. it’s hard for McDonald’s to manage food safety with thousands of locations, but they don’t just go “oh well I can’t be watching everything”. They spend the money making sure everything is fine.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#468

Post by bun_at_work » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

rrose wrote: post #233

post_break wrote: post #4

Wow, is this the great purge? I don’t support certain people, but man I don’t think this is going to end well. This censorship just seems crazy to me.

I seriously can't identify with this viewpoint. There's no censorship here- parler still exists, people are still free to share their (abhorrent) viewpoints there, Google is just choosing not to amplify the voices of people that have proven themselves capable of and prone to violence. All the pearl-clutching over free speech is totally overblown.

This is accurate.

Just because you have to go directly to the website doesn't mean it's censored. Google, Apple, FB, Twitter, etc are not in the business of supporting outlier extremism in our society. Claiming censorship because they don't want to platform that stuff is ridiculous.

Imagine a Jewish-owned store being forced to sell nazi paraphernalia because not selling it is censorship. The users of parler or gab are just mad these huge companies are taking a stand. Engaging with their tantrum only gives them a platform, even if it's just a small personal one, and is clearly bad. Do we argue with crazies on the street yelling "The end is nigh!" every day? No.

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#469

Post by tatrajim » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:35 AM UTC

dumbfounder wrote: post #297

tatrajim wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I saw daily under military dictatorship in South Korea in the 1970s and 80s. My Time magazine would arrive with gaping holes where pages had been cut out. These days the scissors in the US are virtual, but the goal is the same: suppression of political speech and news deemed heretical to one's ideological viewpoint. If you approve of censorship. try China, all the public rhetoric is very clean and faultle…

I think companies should have the right to censor their products in very specific situations, but they should be grilled like they are when it happens so we can debate it with transparency. I am not condoning governments to censor, I think you are reading way too much into my comment.

The compliant Korean media companies under the military then and the Chinese ones like TenCent now craft their censorship to the ideological winds of the state. Silicon Valley under Biden will likely exactly mirror state ideology and indeed participate in its making. We're seeing before our eyes the creation of a one-party discourse system, where unapproved ideas will be extirpated from public forums as "hate speech".

Re: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store

#470

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Jan 09, 2021, 1:35 AM UTC

ardit33 wrote: post #409

f430 wrote: post #76

isn't anybody else creeped out by this??

I am... I am democrat, but I feel this is deeply disturbing. I can see how apple doesn't like parler in its app store, and they have every right to remove it. It is a private company, and it shouldn't be forced to host apps that promote violence/whatever they feel is wrong. But, the fact that you can't download an app, or side-load an app, on any iphone without it being on the app store, makes this decision very worr…

> Tim Cook and apple are being the arbiter of all speech/content

Well, yeah, Apple sells curated experiences. And people choose whether or not to buy those curated experiences.

> and this is very similar to autocratic countries

No, it's not.