Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#31

Post by Miner49er » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

shadowgovt wrote: post #17

It's a little hard over the translation gap to understand why the account was locked... Am I understanding correctly that Twitter interpreted sharing detailed information about a murder victim as doxxing? https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-info...

From what I saw, Rahul Gandhi, a member of the opposition party, met with the parents of a 9 year old girl who was raped and murdered. He posted a picture of this meeting on Twitter, which included the parents. Saying, “Parents' tears are saying only one thing -- their daughter, the daughter of this country, deserves justice. And I am with them on this path to justice.”

So then, "Claiming that the tweet was in violation of provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had asked the Delhi Police and Twitter to take action over Rahul Gandhi posting the photo of the girl's family on the microblogging website." [1]

Then, I think a bunch of other members of this party started posting the picture in protest, and also have been banned.

I think Twitter has claimed that the image isn't just illegal, but also violates their policy.

[1] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/dalit-rape-murder-rahu...

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#32

Post by diegoperini » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

anoonmoose wrote: post #19

cokelee wrote: post #8

Perhaps it will be easier for partisans in the US to rally in support of freer speech when the details of the situation are less familiar.

Hmm, nope, I feel exactly the same on this topic that I did before. If India or Indians don't like the impact Twitter has on their internal politics they are free to ban or stop using Twitter as they see fit.

Terrible idea.

Punishing masses for crimes (if there is any) of individuals is a net negative. We had that in Turkey for years. Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia and hundreds of lewd sites are blocked with that mindset. Turkey is 80M people and the impact was huge and ugly. I can't imagine what will happen to India with 1.3B if mass bans become mainstream.

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#33

Post by gpm » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

mikece wrote: post #2

How can Twitter seriously make the statement that they are not taking sides in a political issue by banning one party in a country? By any objective measure this is suppressing political speech and runs contrary to Twitter's stated goal of being on online Town Square, a place for discourse and the exchange of ideas. It would be one thing if an account was closed for obviously criminal reasons but I doubt that's the c…

Being apolitical doesn't mean "not touching politicians", it means "applying rules consistently regardless of politics and not designing rules for political gain".

To not touch politicians would be to take the stand that some people are important politicians and some are not, that would be an inherently political distinction. Thus that route is not apolitical (short of just not moderating at all, that is possible but does not create a platform that people want to use).

I don't know anything about indian politics, or this case apart from what is said in the article. I don't know if this account was banned for apolitical reasons. But to take the position that banning a political party is fundamentally taking sides in a political issue is wrong.

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#34

Post by yt9yfyugg » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

capableweb wrote: post #29

yt9yfyugg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then Twitter's ToS was designed in a manner that promotes one political party above the other. It's not complicated.

Hm, maybe. But maybe, some parties are worse than others. I can think of 10s of political parties that should not have been allowed to participate in the democratic process as they (before elections) shown to condone political violence.

So? Condoning violence is irrelevant to if a party represents the electorate.

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#35

Post by anoonmoose » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

mikece wrote: post #24

anoonmoose wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I think it is reasonable. You do too, it's just that you think it's ok in some circumstances and not others.

It is unreasonable if Twitter doesn't make a statement as to why. If an intelligence agency of a foreign government had done this it would be an act of war. I don't see why Twitter should be seen as any less nefarious merely because it's a company with a ToS when they don't actually explain WHY certain decisions are made and cowardly point to a ToS as though that is an omnibus explanation for all of their actions.

If an intelligence agency or foreign government did it...they'd be hacking Twitter to do it, and we'd be having a different conversation. Twitter should be free to operate their business, within the bounds of the law, as they see fit. If you think they are being unreasonable, sell your stock, delete your account, petition your congress critter.

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#36

Post by shadowgovt » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

srtjstjsj wrote: post #21

11 comments on HN so far, discussing politics and complaints about Twitter, and so far not one has responded to the content of the article, in which Twitter claims to have locked every account that posted a picture of a rape victim's family, violating its policy on doxxing.

Exactly. It's hard to tell if that was precisely what happened (I blame the cultural and linguistic translation barrier), but if it was, Twitter's TOS on doxxing is very clear.

The locking is necessary as a temporary and immediate mitigation strategy to minimize harm until the nature of the content is determined or the content is removed, rendering locking moot. Standard procedure.

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#37

Post by bjourne » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:43 PM UTC

Sadly, this is not the first time American tech giants have contributed to suppressing free speech. At the behest of Israel, Facebook has blocked the accounts of Palestinian activists and most recently of Gaza's Shebab News Agency. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-facebook-blocks... The rationale is, as always, "violating our community standards". Exactly what those community standards or the specific infractions are is never made explicit. Whatever your political allegiances are, it is very concerning that a small number of American tech giants wield so much power with which to influence global opinion.

(And before someone says "what about Trump?" No, he shouldn't have been kicked off either; both Indian Communists and American presidents have the right to free speech.)

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#38

Post by ceejayoz » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:44 PM UTC

yt9yfyugg wrote: post #20

jmeister wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the party’s account violated Twitter’s ToS?

Then Twitter's ToS was designed in a manner that promotes one political party above the other. It's not complicated.

That's silly.

If I start the "Election Fraud Party", I don't get to complain that enforcing free and fair elections is an attack on me.

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#39

Post by yt9yfyugg » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:44 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #38

yt9yfyugg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then Twitter's ToS was designed in a manner that promotes one political party above the other. It's not complicated.

That's silly. If I start the "Election Fraud Party", I don't get to complain that enforcing free and fair elections is an attack on me.

Do you feel your logical extreme is a good rebuttal here?

Re: Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

#40

Post by ceejayoz » Thu, Aug 12, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

mikece wrote: post #24

anoonmoose wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I think it is reasonable. You do too, it's just that you think it's ok in some circumstances and not others.

It is unreasonable if Twitter doesn't make a statement as to why. If an intelligence agency of a foreign government had done this it would be an act of war. I don't see why Twitter should be seen as any less nefarious merely because it's a company with a ToS when they don't actually explain WHY certain decisions are made and cowardly point to a ToS as though that is an omnibus explanation for all of their actions.

> It is unreasonable if Twitter doesn't make a statement as to why.

The article cites such statements.