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ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

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Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#61

Post by zadokshi »

Grimm1 wrote: post #45
Acrobatic_Road wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At what point do these massive corporations effectively become a government? They govern what you can say, think and buy.

I don't want businesses to be forced to do business with people it doesn't want to there are many avenues to address grievances with that already. For instance in this case, the Trump admin can sue and have the concern addressed in court. No business in the world can currently stand up to a government that wants to curtail it by the way.

> "I don't want businesses to be forced to do business with people it doesn't want to "

But we are not talking about forcing general businesses doing business with general people. We are taking about allowing publicly elected representatives of the people having a voice on the platform that the majority of the country uses for communication.

You are generalising, then building your argument on the generalisation.

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#63

Post by watwut »

tonystubblebine wrote: post #39
zadokshi wrote: post #4

I 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.

> corporations can so easily control the voice of the elected leader of a country I see this almost in reverse, that why on earth has the US Federal Government put a company like Twitter in this position? The Feds have their own communication apparatus and instead foisted onto Twitter the responsibility of being the primary communication channel of the president. He has other options but he fully embraced Twitter and…

The Feds done nothing of that sort. Donald Trump is tweeting, because he wants to tweet. Feds are simply unable to control him and it is fair to say that they should not be able to control whether president tweets or not.

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#64

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

zadokshi wrote: post #10
beezle wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing to prevent any politician from doing what was done before Twitter/FB - holding a press conference and inviting the press/TV. Or putting out public statements which are widely disseminated over news/pr wires.

Yes and anyone can make a website. I was referring to using the platform normal people use here.

Then there's not much concern with the Twitter ban, since the vast majority of Americans don't use it. The platform most used by normal people is Youtube, where Trump is not banned.

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#65

Post by babelfish »

keyme wrote: post #60
cstejerean wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start your own Google then?

Funny. I've seen talk of making Cloudflare ban thedonald.win (the reddit clone of trump supporters). What's next? Make your own routers? Lay your own cables?

Better yet, stop platforming fascists!

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#66

Post by zadokshi »

Pils wrote: post #47
nostromo wrote: post #20

“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.”

> Google bans Parler, conservative Twitter Shows up for me: https://www.google.com/search?q=parler If they didn't want to get banned from the app stores, they should've at least tried to follow the TOS. There is a subreddit dedicated to cataloguing all the death threats on the app, many of which are still up today: https://www.reddit.com/r/ParlerWatch/top/?t=month . Reddit, Facebook and Twitter have entire content mo…

The discussion is not about if a 'free speech app' can have a website. The discussion is about if a 'free speech app' can have an app.

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#67

Post by TulliusCicero »

nostromo wrote: post #44
courtf wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's funny, it seems they were perfectly happy to try starting their own country a couple days ago.

Autonomous zones for me but not for thee. Listen, I’m center left and oppose all this craziness. But the tech giants banning these accounts is counterproductive. Violence will increase not decrease as extremists are pushed out of the public square and into echo chambers and non-public Signal groups. “A riot is the language of the unheard” remember?

So in the interest of balance, conservative leaning apps can get away with doing whatever they want now?

If left leaning apps permit the kind of violent talk that Parler does, by all means, ban those too.

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#68

Post by MisterBastahrd »

karaterobot wrote: post #26

Maybe 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.

I love how this is 100% a liability issue and everyone jumps to the First Amendment like automatons. Twitter and Facebook are each gonna blow hundreds of millions of dollars dealing with litigation from the fallout of the other day. They have zero obligation to host insane seditious rhetoric or the people who have encouraged it.

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#69

Post by verroq »

gumby wrote: post #23

The 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.

Yes but do you? When Twitter suspends your speech do you have a press office to get your word out? If they dare to do it to the president you think they have any reservations about censoring anyone else?

Re: ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

#70

Post by mcshicks »

thraway12 wrote: post #2

ACLU Counsel's actual statement was equivocal af. They aren't the standard bearer on this issue. They just aren't.

Yes that's right. There are 5 things they ask Biden for on the ACLU website for speech, privacy and technology. Moderation policy is not on the list. I think this article needs to understood in the scope of the ACLU overall priorities.

Ban the federal use of, and funding for, facial recognition technology

Support the introduction and passage of federal comprehensive consumer privacy legislation

Expand access to broadband internet access services

Restore net neutrality rules

Reinstate broadband privacy rules

https://www.aclu.org/news/topic/our-asks-bidens-civil-libert...

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