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Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

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71–80 of 373 posts

Re: Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

#71

World leaders should not "be subject to the same rules as others on Twitter", they should be held to a higher standard; if some random loser writes a Tweet justifying genocide, reasonable people can disagree on whether that loser should be banned. But when it's people who are backed by a military which can actually carry out a genocide (and, e.g. in the case of Netanyahu and his ministers, the Assad regime, the Chine…

I'd like to see the tweet and read their genocidal rhetoric directly. If the alternative is a news outlet digesting and editorializing their words, I'd rather hear it directly from the source.

Sometimes the genocidal rhetoric is not subtle, but sometimes they market it as "protecting minorities" (Assad, who is decimating the Sunni Muslim majority), or "liberating women from being baby factories" (Chinese Communist Party, on forced sterilization of Uighur women).

Re: Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

#72
post #67

Marketing tip: Always ask the public for input and consult with "experts" before doing what you intended to all along.

That's a point of view, and a pretty cynical one. I would like to point out that regarding moderation, tech companies have been asking for guidelines and new laws for a decade now. Ageing lawmakers have been unable to provide them and we start to see shy initiatives from the EU regarding privacy laws but roughly most of the water in which tech companies operate are still no mans lands. All that make me think that eve…

I like the comparison to unclaimed land. While other industries are heavily regulated, requiring legal compliance and investment, Internet publishing is still largely open. In my view this is one of the reasons why the online service economy is booming in the US, where others are in decline.

Re: Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

#74

A good article by Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, on "credible neutrality" as a guiding principle for the protocol: https://nakamoto.com/credible-neutrality/ Twitter has long lost credible neutrality as a platform which is why it's ultimately going to die.

I understand "credibly neutral" here to mean the idea that you appear neutral, whether or not you are actually neutral. Compare with: plausible deniability.

The goal of credible neutrality is to convince people that you have acted fairly and gain political acceptance [Vitalik does this by appealing to the standards for property ownership under capitalism]; the goal is not to act fairly [as Vitalik softly admits, the true goal is to do whatever is necessary to support (his) wealth accumulation].

I would much rather credible neutrality did not exist as a justification for particular actions, and that it faced automatic criticism.

Give Bob 1000 coins and admit that you did so, rather than set up a system of rules which is designed for Bob to receive 1000 coins. The use of passive voice is an indicator that someone has disguised their responsibility.

Re: Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

#75

They might want to address issues like this as well: https://gizmodo.com/twitter-stands-by-lets-oann-link-to-repo...

Btw, a nytimes reporter did the something similar, but not as gross.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-times-nikole-hannah-j...

Re: Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

#76

On Twitter you can find promoted full blown propaganda paid for by hostile (to the US at least) state sponsored news agencies and government officials. These same governments ban Twitter in their own countries and would never allow similar content on their own platforms. Twitter's solution here is to insert a tiny "State affiliated" footer text below the account name. Can you imagine in the Cold War-era NBC being all…

You might want to take a look at Voice of America, a Congress-funded network that broadcasts almost exclusively outside the US as US propaganda: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America

Re: Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see the tweet and read their genocidal rhetoric directly. If the alternative is a news outlet digesting and editorializing their words, I'd rather hear it directly from the source.

Sometimes the genocidal rhetoric is not subtle, but sometimes they market it as "protecting minorities" (Assad, who is decimating the Sunni Muslim majority), or "liberating women from being baby factories" (Chinese Communist Party, on forced sterilization of Uighur women).

Dissent is valuable. Twitter should allow replies on these posts. There should be more transparency on how the replies are ranked or hidden.

Re: Calling for public input on our approach to world leaders

#80
Simple answer to this entire issue: If it’s not illegal, don’t censor or moderate it in any way.

Social media companies like Twitter realize that this is the most reasonable approach, but it effectively removes their ability to manipulate... so of course they continue to censor and moderate in a biased fashion.

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