Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 74 posts

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

#61

Post by mountainb »

anoonmoose wrote: post #54
mountainb wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

International law supersedes Twitter's ToS and Twitter's actions are entangling the United States into international political conflicts that we don't need to be dumped into. The core question as far as international law is concerned is whether or not Twitter's actions in these instances are those of a state or if it is a private actor. Twitter would say it's a private actor, but considering the close historical coor…

I am neither clueless, brain damaged, or a stooge, and I think Twitter is a wholly private actor. My opinion on this topic is backed by a raft of laws and legal precedent; yours is not.

Right, just like the British East India Company was a "private actor." It's just a glove for the hand of the state.

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

#62

Post by nsizx »

shadowgovt wrote: post #59
root_axis wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse than that, it effectively makes the site legally impossible to run. When people say "remove section 230 protection" what they're really saying is "shut the website down".

Yes. At which point, we'll be where we are right now but with several fewer communications services. People who want this content shared would still be able to host it on their own servers (and assume the liability if someone brings legal action), as they can do right now.

Only that they can't because isps will kick you out also.

I want to make it illegal for isps to kick people out as well. :-)

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

#63

Post by altendo »

> In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said the company’s rules are enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone on our service.

I don't know the details of why they are blocking the Indian National Congress' account. What I can say is that they really need to stop saying things like this. They absolutely -do not- apply it fairly. Different standards apply if you are a US politician, and even then it's not uniform.

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

#64

Post by bjourne »

malshe wrote: post #56
bjourne wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article has more details. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/12/tech/twitter-india-congre... The opposition party clearly had the permission of the parents to post the photo. The Indian government appears to have requested of Twitter to remove the photo since it was used for political purposes by the opposition.

> The opposition party clearly had the permission of the parents to post the photo Where does it say in the article you have linked?

It's clear from context because the photos are from a meeting with the victim's family. You can see the censored photos here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/rahul-gandhi-... I don't know why India has a law against showing photos of rape victims families. Perhaps because rape brings shame to the victim's family in some circles. However, if you are publicly meeting with a national politician you clearly do not ascribe to that view and it is obvious that you wouldn't mind being seen in photos with that politician.

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

#65

Post by colpabar »

So it seems that the dominant opinion in this thread is that twitter is a private company, and that they are allowed to operate as they see fit. They can ban whoever they want, as long as they say it violated their tos. But in [1], it says

> 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.

So my question is - would twitter have done anything if not asked by the police? I doubt it, but I cannot say for sure. But doesn't the fact that they were asked to take action make the whole "they're just enforcing their tos" argument moot?

It just seems like this is a truly horrific thing that happened, and frankly it makes me sad that so many people come in and say "well, the billion dollar outrage production / data mining corporation said it was ok, and the government who is being protested for not prosecuting anyone said it was ok, so what's the issue?" Would that be your response if this happened in america? I know they are different countries with different laws and multinational corporations need to follow the laws of the countries they operate in, but isn't there more to it than that?

Also, is there anyone who is Indian or understands Indian politics who can provide some more context?

[1]: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/delhi-rape-murder-a-ca...

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

#66

Post by chitowneats »

anoonmoose wrote: post #52
chitowneats wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you've just got it all figured out, don't you? Thankfully, we didn't have this type of rampant censorship before the discovery of germ theory, or we'd all still be bloodletting.

Look, I understand why you view this as censorship. But I hope you can understand why I don't- as far as I am concerned (and as far as US law is concerned) Twitter is a private actor and has the same rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association that I have. If me or Twitter genuinely believe that the info Rand Paul is putting out is harmful, neither of us should be required to host his opinions, in my opini…

I am not a libertarian, so no, I am not confused about censorship only being a consequence of state action. See: The Catholic Church and many similar entities. Now it's mega corporations. We recently learned, however, that some are working hand in glove with the U.S. federal government when determining what to censor. That this is all under the spectre of impending anti-trust action is not lost on the executives of those companies.

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

#67

Post by chitowneats »

refactor_master wrote: post #53
chitowneats wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you've just got it all figured out, don't you? Thankfully, we didn't have this type of rampant censorship before the discovery of germ theory, or we'd all still be bloodletting.

In 1860 barely any countries allowed women to vote. So public opinion was maybe slightly more moderated back then, than what you think. Not to mention that newspapers work slightly different than online messaging platforms.

Women's suffrage is important. I'd argue denying half the population to vote is similar in degree to a handful of mega corporations determining what is and isn't good science. But it is a difference in kind.

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

#68

Post by malshe »

bjourne wrote: post #64
malshe wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The opposition party clearly had the permission of the parents to post the photo Where does it say in the article you have linked?

It's clear from context because the photos are from a meeting with the victim's family. You can see the censored photos here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/rahul-gandhi-... I don't know why India has a law against showing photos of rape victims families. Perhaps because rape brings shame to the victim's family in some circles. However, if you are publicly meeting with a national politician you clearl…

All these are just your opinions. You wrote your statement as if it were a fact.

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

#69

Post by shadowgovt »

mountainb wrote: post #47
jmeister wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

International law supersedes Twitter's ToS and Twitter's actions are entangling the United States into international political conflicts that we don't need to be dumped into. The core question as far as international law is concerned is whether or not Twitter's actions in these instances are those of a state or if it is a private actor. Twitter would say it's a private actor, but considering the close historical coor…

The Indian government was the entity that first asked Twitter to take action on this issue.

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

#70

Post by shadowgovt »

malshe wrote: post #27

TechCrunch article is light on details. CNN has more information https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/12/tech/twitter-india-congress-p... Editing to add another article. This article mentions that it was Rahul Gandhi, the prince of the Gandhi dynasty, that first posted it and his account was temporarily locked. Then in protest, senior leaders in his party posted the same image! So their accounts were also temporarily locked.…

Regardless of all other factors, Twitter is a moderated forum, and "showing you disagree with admin action by doing the same thing that got another user's account locked will get your account locked" is pretty bog-standard forum administration.
Post reply on HN