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Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

reuters.com

541–550 of 1001 posts

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#541
> It said examples of this “severe misconduct” include terrorist activities, child sexual exploitation, violent extremism, credible threats of mass violence, carrying out or deliberately acting as an accomplice to sexual assault and threatening Twitch or its staff.

The thing is, most of these are crimes. If there is credible evidence that you engaged in terrorist activities, you should be in jail, making a ban from Twitch moot because you wouldn't be able to access it anyway. Why does Twitch feel they have to form a vigilante justice system that is outside of normal due process and has no right to a fair trial?

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#542
post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, the controversial political opinions you believe should be platformed by Twitch are: "If that means white redneck militia dudes mowing down dipshit protesters that think they can torch buildings at 10 PM, at this point they have my fucking blessing." and "America Deserved 9/11"? Because those are the literal quotes from things that got people pulled from Twitch and you've labelled "controversial politica…

Well, yes, these are controversial opinions. If they make you feel uncomfortable, that's fine - controversy does that. If you think anything that makes you feel uncomfortable should be illegal to say, then maybe you just don't care about free speech.

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Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#543
post #8

"The company said users will be able to report such behaviors but it may also investigate cases proactively, for instance if there is a verified news report that a user has been arrested." So we've arrived at "innocent until accused" instead of "innocent until proven guilty"? And if proven guilty, they will both be punished under the law, and again by companies like Twitch? If proven innocent will they be restored? W…

The lack of the internet is the original cancel culture. Before the internet, it was easy for speech to get confined to some small region due to financial status, ethnicity, etc. The internet fundamentally counter-acts cancel culture. However, the “right to free speech” does NOT imply a right to be heard. Internet entities can and will do stupid things that interfere with individual expression, but they don’t trample…

If nobody wanted to hear a message, they would just not subscribe to a person sending it. We are not talking about that, we are talking about privately owned platforms directly deciding what kind of ideas are allowed to circulate in our society. And I find it quite worrying. Because right now it is in their direct interest to make sure an average American doesn't have a family, doesn't have kids, devotes their entire energy to their corporate job, and doesn't accumulate a single dollar worth of savings. It looks great on the financial statements, but it makes people across the board miserable.

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#544
post #499
post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some schools banned Harry Potter in America. Also this article states that Twitch that the misconduct is this: "It said examples of this “severe misconduct” include terrorist activities, child sexual exploitation, violent extremism, credible threats of mass violence, carrying out or deliberately acting as an accomplice to sexual assault and threatening Twitch or its staff." Which one of these are just political opini…

No public schools banned Harry Potter, because they cannot do so. And a private school "banning" a book isn't an actual ban. You could still purchase and read the book if you desired.

So a private company can do what they want?

But Twitch can't?

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#545
post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, the controversial political opinions you believe should be platformed by Twitch are: "If that means white redneck militia dudes mowing down dipshit protesters that think they can torch buildings at 10 PM, at this point they have my fucking blessing." and "America Deserved 9/11"? Because those are the literal quotes from things that got people pulled from Twitch and you've labelled "controversial politica…

Well, yes, these are controversial opinions. If they make you feel uncomfortable, that's fine - controversy does that. If you think anything that makes you feel uncomfortable should be illegal to say, then maybe you just don't care about free speech.

> If you think anything that makes you feel uncomfortable should be illegal to say...

No one said that. Please don't put words in my mouth.

> yes, these are controversial opinions

That's a bit like calling a ghost pepper a "a bit spicy" and then when someone dislikes eating a whole one raw saying, "maybe you don't care for food with flavor?"

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#546
post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, then eSports stars are getting to be just like regular sports stars.

I'm okay with that. I think sports approaches this with the appropriate level of maturity. Has any sports exec said something to the effect of > I can also ban you if I don’t like you. Or if I think it’s funny, or really any other reason.

If they weren't dealing with dozens of 7- and 8-figure contracts, and earning millions themselves, but were instead moderating some piddly little forum nobody's ever heard for approximately $0 a year, they probably would have said almost exactly that.

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#547
post #276

Coming from the perspective of someone that was an admin of a medium-large forum back in the vBulletin heyday of the early 2000s, I’m somewhat amused by people getting angry at moderation decisions. The rules were pretty clear: This is my website. I pay the bills and maintain it. Here are some clear rules that if you break them, you will be punished with a ban/suspension/shadow an/redirect to goatse upon login/etc. a…

The significant difference is I (assume) no one depended on your forum for earning a significant part of their income. Once you set yourself as a place where you want people come and earn money, then banning them, and thus depriving them of something of real monetary value, takes on and entire different set of nuances.

So just like at will employment then? Anyone can fire you for wearing a shirt they didn’t like that day - this is your problem, not theirs.

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#548
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And antitrust laws are designed precisely to prevent corporations from monopolizing and abusing market position. Freedom of speech means I have the right to hear from people I choose to assemble with. Monopolies dominating the market for speech and then dictating the terms of speech is an antitrust situation. Not least of which because by the same mechanisms they can use to silence political opponents they can use to…

That's apples and bananas. A more apt comparison would be: does your local newspaper HAVE to print anything you want on the front page? No? Then why should a social media site be forced to? Facebook doesn't control whether you pick up the phone and call your friend to voice your opinion. Twitter can't prevent you from driving to your local bar and telling your drinking buddies what you think of the president. Then ag…

> So it is quite a bit more complicated than just saying "its their platform, their rules"

How about this example instead: Do phones have to serve you? Phone companies are user communication companies, after all. Seems like an appropriate analogy. Whereas a newpaper is more of a publishing company.

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#549
post #457
post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add a little extra context to what other people are giving you: large, million-dollar digital tournaments stream on Twitch because they have no other choice if they want to reach viewers. ESL signed a deal with Facebook streaming that destroyed their viewership numbers because people go to Twitch to watch, not the website for the tournament. Organizers have clearly seen this and will not move their stream to anoth…

> no other choice if they want to reach viewers > are incredibly few esports careers that could survive a Twitch ban (emphasis mine) People have never been entitled to a sports career, or to celebrity status by reaching viewers on someone else's platform. These platforms have democratized the "rags to riches" story, but whether it was the '30s or the '60s or the '90s, you've always had to play by the rules of the pre…

I can't stand comments like this that obviously miss the overall point being made and tbh it is entirely done disingenuously.

The terms of service are not in anyway enforced consistently or fairly. The way the terms and service is written is that they can basically boot you for any reason. It is well known that the "tiddie streamers" regularly get away with ToS violations, where some dude wearing a red hat will get a ban (and I mean a red hat, because that exactly what happened to one guy, he didn't even have a MAGA hat).

"Behaviour off platform" can mean anything and will be like the current Terms of Service be not be enforced in any manner that is consistent or fair.

Twitch is a monopoly in this space and it is abusing its position. This combined with the fact that the mobile phone platforms can remove an App for any reason it wants means that there is no open market where a competitor that has a different ToS can reasonably become competitive.

Re: Twitch will ban users for 'severe misconduct' that occurs away from its site

#550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make a lot more than 100K, I have unlimited vacation, unlimited sick leave. Only 12 weeks of FMLA, so there's that. And healthcare isn't free anywhere in the world, just financed differently. I pay for my insurance from my paycheck, but the paycheck is so much larger that it works out fine. My deductible is zero, out-of-pocket maximum is zero, so it's not effectively much different than 'free' healthcare. I am well…

>>I make a lot more than 100K That's all well and good, but most Americans don't and therefore they cannot afford the same social benefits that nearly all EU citizens just have as standard. Yes, I am aware that you can live an extremely good life in America if you're rich. Most people aren't rich though. >>My deductible is zero, out-of-pocket maximum is zero, so it's not effectively much different than 'free' healthc…

> Unlimited paid sick leave?

Yep. And unlimited paid vacation, too.

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