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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

#91

Post by tomatotomato37 »

Acrobatic_Road wrote: post #33
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.

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

When they start getting serious anti-trust lawsuits brought against them seems a good point.

I feel like that's something that's been forgetten I this situation, we aren't talking about normal companies, we are talking about companies that are so freaking big that the government has to go and actively prune them to prevent them from crippling their own markets.

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

#92

Post by claytongulick »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #50
ergocoder wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 if they used due process a lot of them would have been banned a long time ago. They let Trump get away with a CONSTANT stream of bullshit and insults over the last four years. Their PR people had to constantly engage the media to tell them that he only kept his account because he was POTUS. He isn't gonna be POTUS much longer, there are about 40 other platforms he can use, and he's got an entire press apparat…

Have you actually read what the average twitter user posts?

Almost all of what I see on there is magnitudes worse than anything I've seen Trump post, and yet there's no action against those users...

This is clearly partisan politics. The ban hammer is not applied equally.

I see unbelievable insults, direct calls for violence (from both sides), acrimonious, spiteful and hateful posts - with zero consequences.

But Trump posts "go home peacefully" and he's banned?

I don't know about you, but I've actually spent a lot of time reading Trump's Twitter feed. While I'm personally embarrassed about his lack of executive poise, and I disagree with most of what I've read, I've never seen anything that would come close to a call for violence, or many of the other things he's been accused of.

Happy to read examples if you have some and I've just missed it.

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

#93

Post by zepto »

zadokshi wrote: post #61
Grimm1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The generalization is a good principle to uphold, wouldn’t you say?

Should newspapers be forced to publish the presidents tweets for those who are not on Twitter?

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

#94

Post by alisonkisk »

zadokshi wrote: post #40
dragonwriter wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When corporations can so easily control the voice of the elected leader of a country They don't control his voice. They just control if their resources are used to magnify his voice. The alternative is state-directed media where the leader directs what political messages must be relayed and private parties have no choice about whether to relay them. That's not only inconsistent with the First Amendment, it tends to…

Yes, that's what I just said. When corporations that are used by the general public for public communication are allowed to control the voice of elected officials, we have a serious problem. A state controlled twitter is an interesting suggestion. I am not sure that's a better situation.

You said the opposite.

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

#95

Post by zadokshi »

gameswithgo wrote: post #82
verroq wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

yes, because if they censor too much then parler or any other startup can easily rise up and compete. the barrier to entry is very very low here if there are pissed off users ready to flee. parler being a prime example

No, Apple is trying to ban the alternative product that has been created.

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

#96

Post by zepto »

Acrobatic_Road wrote: post #57
Grimm1 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is not just "we don't want to do business with you". This is "we don't you want to have a platform anywhere". I start caring when several tech monopolies co-ordinate to take down alternative platforms like parler.

Parler can be sideloaded on Android.

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

#97

Post by nicodjimenez »

dragonwriter wrote: post #32
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.

> When corporations can so easily control the voice of the elected leader of a country They don't control his voice. They just control if their resources are used to magnify his voice. The alternative is state-directed media where the leader directs what political messages must be relayed and private parties have no choice about whether to relay them. That's not only inconsistent with the First Amendment, it tends to…

This is intellectual dishonesty.

The alternative is that the government protects the liberties of its people and protect against the tyranny of the majority.

PS Facebook Twitter Google Amazon Apple ARE the state media at this point. For now!

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

#98

Post by 29athrowaway »

Among the "protesters" (insurrectionists) there multiple people in military gear carrying zip-tie handcuffs. They made it to the Senate Chamber.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/08/zip-...

I think these companies have done the right thing. Enough is enough.

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

#99

Post by zadokshi »

mbreese wrote: post #83
zadokshi wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s also not even that. The discussion is if someone has to distribute a “free speech app”. The issue is a little more complex for Apple if/when they ban Parler, as you can’t (easily) side load apps on iOS. But Google only banned them from the Google Play store, thus limiting their distribution. You can still use the app, and side load to install. (I think this makes Android’s position a little more tenable here...)…

Yea. No one is complaining that the "Parler" website has been banned. The issue is can a competing product have a comparable offering, including a proper native application with notifications, and all of the features only allowed to be used via native API calls.

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

#100

Post by nostromo »

cstejerean wrote: post #36
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.”

Start your own Google then?

How to start a conservative social media app in 2024:

1. Create a bank for your financial interests

2. Mine aluminum for your phone manufacturing factory

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