Angela Merkel blasts Twitter's decision to permanently suspend Trump's account • Hacker News Board

Re: Angela Merkel blasts Twitter's decision to permanently suspend Trump's account

#21

Post by dannyz » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 9:12 PM UTC

I support the suspension of Trump's twitter, but I have to preface this and say that I only support the decision in the context of the system we have right now. When the official position of the white house is demonstrably false and incites violence something has to be done.

We should not forget however that you could argue that the current situation was caused by Twitter/Facebook in the first place. The algorithms that optimize engagement played a large part in amplifying Trump's, and others, voices.

There is lots of discussion of whether Twitter should be thought of as a public square where every idea is free, a newspaper where opinions are curated, or something else entirely. I personally think that it is something new, and we need long policy discussions on how platforms should be regulated. No matter what happens the decision to or not to regulate platforms/big tech and how it should be done is going to be one of the most important policy decisions of the decade.

Re: Angela Merkel blasts Twitter's decision to permanently suspend Trump's account

#22

Post by renewiltord » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 9:27 PM UTC

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #9

ckmdjdndndn wrote: post #3

Throw away. What I find so funny is the hypocrisy of all these co’s. During growth, no morals at all. Once at the top, suddenly the arbiter of honesty and righteousness. Reddit - How long did they let /r/creepshots /r/jailbait and more run wild before shutting down? When it was convenient economically with investors and growth numbers? Only after a bad article was written? Amazon - Make a list of all the businesses A…

This is the nature of risk. Non-incumbents are always willing to take more risk as they have less to lose. If there isn't a "law" formalized for this there should be, it's as hypocritical as gravity. It's practically a natural law up there with "power grows power" and "capital builds capital".

Hey, mang, your comment was deaded and it looks like you're shadowbanned, but your history looks clean. If you care, contact the site admins to de-ban.

Re: Angela Merkel blasts Twitter's decision to permanently suspend Trump's account

#23

Post by michannne » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

ckmdjdndndn wrote: post #3

Throw away. What I find so funny is the hypocrisy of all these co’s. During growth, no morals at all. Once at the top, suddenly the arbiter of honesty and righteousness. Reddit - How long did they let /r/creepshots /r/jailbait and more run wild before shutting down? When it was convenient economically with investors and growth numbers? Only after a bad article was written? Amazon - Make a list of all the businesses A…

I agree with @pxtail that these companies will hopefully get what's coming to them. But on another note, their flagrant behavior only highlights the immense power that old media had before the Internet became as big as it is today. Just as in the past, media companies hold massive sway over the opinions of regular folk, and in all this time the law has not evolved to challenge that power in any way.

The thing I dislike most about Trump's presidency is that it shone a spotlight so bright on DC that lawmakers and politicians that no one would have cared for otherwise have become celebrities, which doesn't bode well for the future, as any organization that controls the mediums these celebrities use to gain followers and boost their platform holds power over them.

It is Facebook that gets to decide whether or not you will even get a chance at getting elected, it is Twitter that gets to decide if you even exist outside of your local city, it is Amazon that gets to decide if you even get a website to host your platform. Obviously these aren't the only ones but you see the point I'm trying to make, which is that politics have become a televised drama, and these tech companies are the Executive Producers.

Re: Angela Merkel blasts Twitter's decision to permanently suspend Trump's account

#24

Post by d1sxeyes » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 10:04 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #19

Tarsul wrote: post #15

"He [her speaker] added that governments, not private companies, should decide on any limitations to freedom of speech." So it's more a critic of the US government than of Twitter. And if the government doesn't act, it's up to someone else, in this case social media companies to do something, isn't it? If Trump wasn't the president, he would have been banned way before and with good reason. Germany knows there is a d…

Europe has a different conception of free speech and censorship than we do. Censorship is acceptable and desired in Europe. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc., all censor entire categories of speech and types of speech, including for example criticism of religion in Germany, or expressions of religion in France (to cite opposing examples). Free speech in Europe is really just what the government says is free; the de…

I don't even know where to start...

Re: Angela Merkel blasts Twitter's decision to permanently suspend Trump's account

#25

Post by maniacalrobot » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 10:15 PM UTC

Udik wrote: post #11

theBobBob wrote: post #4

Isn't Germany on of the countries that at least had plans on making social media companies responsible for what their users post on their sites. If I remember correctly they were even proposing massive fines if content that they deemed illegal was not removed within an hour and even holding the executives criminally responsible for the content that any of their users post? I'm not sure did they actually go that far b…

I think the point here is "content that they deemed illegal ". There is one authority that mediates between the needs and ideologies of all participants in society, and that's the state. The state sets boundaries- publicly discussed, contracted, declared and approved- so that everyone is entirely free to do whatever they please inside those boundaries. The case where private companies in an oligo or monopolistic envi…

Shouldn’t it be “content that they deemed illegal”