Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#61

Post by philliphaydon » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

OzyM wrote: post #2

"The IT rules, which became effective end-May, are aimed at regulating content on social media and making firms act more swiftly on legal requests to remove posts and sharing details on the originators of messages. They also require the appointment of certain new executives." The article makes this sound like a massive detriment to free speech. Companies removing content on their own platforms makes sense. However, g…

> Companies removing content on their own platforms makes sense. However, governments being able to force the removal of content (such as a "controversial hash tag related to farmer protests against new agricultural reforms") can't be good.

I disagree. Both are bad. When you grow to the size of Facebook, Twitter, etc. Removing content from your own platform allows you to spread propaganda that meets your own agenda. That allows these platforms to promote a politician that maybe trying to reduce corporate tax, and suppress one who is trying to raise it. It’s bad enough these platforms are dictating what’s a conspiracy theory or who we should listen to about Covid.

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#62

Post by Pulcinella » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

mullen wrote: post #10

vowelless wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The benefit is complying with local laws. Not all countries have “first amendment style free speech”. Note the speech restrictions in the Indian constitution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_expression_in_India The farmers protests were allegedly detrimental to the sovereignty and security of India and so it makes sense to ban those kinds of hastags. FWIW, the American government also requests removals from…

> FWIW, the American government also requests removals from social media sites. No, they don't. Any American Government official requesting a removal of anything from social media sites would probably lose their job. That's saying a lot because American Government officials rarely ever lose their jobs.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-webs...

Amazon was pressured to stop hosting Wikileaks.

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#63

Post by dmingod666 » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

OzyM wrote: post #2

"The IT rules, which became effective end-May, are aimed at regulating content on social media and making firms act more swiftly on legal requests to remove posts and sharing details on the originators of messages. They also require the appointment of certain new executives." The article makes this sound like a massive detriment to free speech. Companies removing content on their own platforms makes sense. However, g…

Countries implementing rules in their own countries on business that earn profits from those countries, shocking.

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#64

Post by alex_smart » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

ConcernedCoder wrote: post #30

oneplane wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes they do. Not personally, but they do. The amount of child exploitation that falls through the filters is not zero, and sometimes the government of the US intervenes and asks for the content to be removed.

ok, so removal of obvious illegal content like child exploitation is not equivilent to removal of content like "I don't agree with your political view" -- which is basically IMHO what this hashtag thing in india amounts to...?

> "I don't agree with your political view" > which is basically IMHO what this hashtag thing in india amounts to...?

No, it doesn't. The tweets under that hashtag were spreading a false rumour that the police had shot at a farmer when there was a CCTV footage showing clearly that the said person had died in an accident caused by him running his tractor into a barricade.

I don't quite understand this need to quickly pass judgements on complex politics of a different country, without spending the minimum required time and effort to familiarize yourself with the topic.

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#65

Post by michaelmrose » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

sudhirj wrote: post #56

tomjen3 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They want somebody they can arrest.

They can already arrest any employee, like this head of marketing.

It's likely that they can't arrest someone for not doing something that said employees have neither the authority nor the ability to do nor would it help if they did. They wont someone in country with that power that can be held responsible for compliance with the Indian government.

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#66

Post by portpecos » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

alfalfasprout wrote: post #47

invertedreversi wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's be specific. The Government requested the takedown of the hashtag, #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide This seems reasonable.

Is it? I don't know the particulars of India's constitution but suppressing speech like this is generally frowned upon by democracies.

What's the difference between #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide and #StopTheSteal from a free speech perspective?

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#67

Post by mrguyorama » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

alfalfasprout wrote: post #47

invertedreversi wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's be specific. The Government requested the takedown of the hashtag, #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide This seems reasonable.

Is it? I don't know the particulars of India's constitution but suppressing speech like this is generally frowned upon by democracies.

Plenty of democracies have stricter stances on libel, which such a hashtag could be argued to be

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#68

Post by tw600040 » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

OzyM wrote: post #2

"The IT rules, which became effective end-May, are aimed at regulating content on social media and making firms act more swiftly on legal requests to remove posts and sharing details on the originators of messages. They also require the appointment of certain new executives." The article makes this sound like a massive detriment to free speech. Companies removing content on their own platforms makes sense. However, g…

Hypothetically speaking, what if the said company acts with ulterior motives, is blatantly anti national, blatantly trying to interfere in elections, cause riots etc. What should a responsible government do then? Hypothetically.

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#69

Post by xNeil » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

portpecos wrote: post #66

alfalfasprout wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? I don't know the particulars of India's constitution but suppressing speech like this is generally frowned upon by democracies.

What's the difference between #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide and #StopTheSteal from a free speech perspective?

My question exactly - I'd love to hear someone's take on this. Both are misinformation campaigns, and both result in violence.

I don't see why Trump should be banned but accounts tweeting that the government is planning a genocide should not (be banned). I'd say both bans were fair.

Re: Twitter begins hiring to comply with India’s new rules

#70

Post by ikilledthecat » Thu, Jul 08, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

OzyM wrote: post #2

"The IT rules, which became effective end-May, are aimed at regulating content on social media and making firms act more swiftly on legal requests to remove posts and sharing details on the originators of messages. They also require the appointment of certain new executives." The article makes this sound like a massive detriment to free speech. Companies removing content on their own platforms makes sense. However, g…

As an Indian citizen I'd rather not have a shithead american executive lord over information flow in my country. I trust my govt. way more than I will ever trust a Foreign entity.

Twitter should comply with Indian laws if it wants to operate here. It's as simple as that.