It's a problem. We're getting too much online censorship. Muzzling Trump was quite a step. Probably justified, though, because he finally reached the inciting to riot point.
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ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
21–30 of 208 posts
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#22“Start your own Twitter then!” ... they do. “Google bans Parler, conservative Twitter. Apple gives them 24 hour notice to moderate more speech or be banned.”
They are trying to get Parler kicked off of AWS too. Anyone who uses “start your own X” is a disingenuous moron.
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#23The man literally has a press office and a press staff. There are any number of outlets who will cling to his every word in order to praise or criticize it.
I don't use twitter and seem to learn what is said.
It is difficult to see what the problem is.
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#24I really appreciate the ACLU stepping up to bat here. The organization once defended the right of Nazis to march. As progressivism replaces liberalism on the left, it has faced a lot of internal pressure to compromise on its free speech commitment: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-aclu-retreats-from-free-exp.... Glad there are some old school speech absolutists left at the ACLU.
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#25I don’t care what side your politics are. When corporations can so easily control the voice of the elected leader of a country (one who has genuine legitimate support or about half of the country), I become very scared for the future. Corporations should not have more power than the elected officials.
Not sure why you are downvoted. You raised a legit point. Facebook and Twitter are important communication channels for the public. It's dangerous that they can ban any elected official without going through any single legal process. No judge. No jury. What we are doing here is a screaming match. Who can scream at Facebook/Twitter the loudest probably wins. This is going to turn into threats on FB/Twitter execs very…
Because Twitter/Facebook is private property and has no obligation to provide a platform for someone to overthrow democracy and incite more violence.
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#26Maybe it would help if someone on the internet condescendingly pointed out to them that the first amendment doesn't apply to private platforms. I mean I know that's not what they're talking about at all, but it's what always seems to happen in these discussions.
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#27I don’t care what side your politics are. When corporations can so easily control the voice of the elected leader of a country (one who has genuine legitimate support or about half of the country), I become very scared for the future. Corporations should not have more power than the elected officials.
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Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#28Where was the ACLU's handwringing when these platforms were used to disseminate lies and sow dissension?
I think you're misunderstanding the ACLU's arguments here. They're fairly consistently pro free-speech, mostly regardless of what that means. There's not much handwringing from them about "bad" speech because they're OK with bad speech being out there. I don't think they're fans of Trump, as their statement makes clear, but they're worried about the precedent that banning him sets.
> they're OK with bad speech being out there
Might be time for a bit more nuanced view:
Facebook admits it was used to 'incite offline violence' in Myanmar https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46105934
Four dead in Bangladesh riot over offensive Facebook post https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/21/asia/riot-deaths-facebook-pos...
A Genocide Incited on Facebook, With Posts From Myanmar’s Military https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebo...
Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook Is a Match https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/world/asia/facebook-sri-l...
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#29I don’t care what side your politics are. When corporations can so easily control the voice of the elected leader of a country (one who has genuine legitimate support or about half of the country), I become very scared for the future. Corporations should not have more power than the elected officials.
Not sure why you are downvoted. You raised a legit point. Facebook and Twitter are important communication channels for the public. It's dangerous that they can ban any elected official without going through any single legal process. No judge. No jury. What we are doing here is a screaming match. Who can scream at Facebook/Twitter the loudest probably wins. This is going to turn into threats on FB/Twitter execs very…
It seems like “the platform can suspend anyone”, “the platform can make those suspensions indefinite (making them a ban)”, and “the platform can be sued for reinstatement” is, more or less, what we have now and doesn’t strike me as particularly unreasonable or dangerous.
If the POTUS is banned from NBC, surely they can still get their TV messages out, right?
Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook
#30“Start your own Twitter then!” ... they do. “Google bans Parler, conservative Twitter. Apple gives them 24 hour notice to moderate more speech or be banned.”
That's funny, it seems they were perfectly happy to try starting their own country a couple days ago.