The Twitter Files, Part Six • Hacker News Board

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#101

Post by sleepybrett » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:50 AM UTC

joshuaheard wrote: post #88

leoh wrote: post #53

Learned basically nothing here. So the FBI helped Twitter with content moderation? Who gives a crap.

It's corruption. It's a violation of the First Amendment. It's a dangerous collusion between state and media. We should all be concerned.

It's literally none of those things.

The FBI contacted trust and safety and said 'Hey we have concerns about these tweets'. Twitter decided to take them down in some cases.

Who is corrupted here? Twitter for taking reports and then deciding how to react to them? The FBI for finding misinformation that might lead to crazies creating mass casualty events?

The FBI at no time FORCED twitter to do anything. So it's not violating the first amendment.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#102

Post by stanislavb » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:50 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #80

lapcat wrote: post #54

This is actually an argument for why Twitter shouldn't exist. Twitter makes it super easy to do mass warrantless surveillance, because Twitter gathers millions of people together in the same searchable public space. It's a honeypot. What's dangerous about the "public square" concept is that Musk doesn't just want a public square — one public space among many, one among equals — he wants the public square, a monopoly…

This goes for any large web property where people congregate to communicate. HN is no different in that respect.

HN is a niche compared to Twitter.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#103

Post by jacquesm » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:50 AM UTC

astrange wrote: post #91

moralestapia wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once per week for three years is not constant to you? Weird.

That's very low for how often law enforcement might contact a social media service. Sometimes it's because people report "illegal" posts to them instead of you. Sometimes it's just because they're old people and aren't going to go through your report form when they could email you. What controls when you have to respond to them is the law, not them. You'll know when that is, because it'll come with legal process.

It's so low that I'm pretty sure they missed the bulk of the communications between LE and Twitter. But hey, more installments, more eyeballs, more outrage and so more money for Musk.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#104

Post by sleepybrett » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:51 AM UTC

tomohawk wrote: post #93

leoh wrote: post #53

Learned basically nothing here. So the FBI helped Twitter with content moderation? Who gives a crap.

When people become a sworn officer of the FBI or any other federal LEO officer, they take an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution. When instead of upholding the Constitution, they ask a private company to violate people's first ammendment rights, that is an abuse of power. It may be within Twitters terms of service to ban people and censor people, and that may be fine for Twitter, but for a sworn officer to…

At no point did the FBI order that tweets be taken down.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#105

Post by roflyear » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:51 AM UTC

moralestapia wrote: post #66

leoh wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>as if it were a subsidiary Having gone through an acquisition, I guarantee that our acquired org gets more than 150 emails from our acquirer every two years. Let alone each day. To call it a "subsidiary" is ludicrous.

Quoted post unavailable.

Read the OP please and don't converse in bad faith.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#106

Post by RosanaAnaDana » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:51 AM UTC

cyberphobe wrote: post #73

[flagged]

The conversation internally is obviously very dismissive of the farse, so if I were a betting person, I'd guess bots.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#107

Post by Georgelemental » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:52 AM UTC

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #10

camjohnson26 wrote: post #3

This is the height of hypocrisy. Everything the "twitter files" have disclosed so far is in line with what most people expected was happening, but Musk's censorship of the platform has been far more egregious than anything that came before. This isn't to defend the actions that Twitter took, which were arguably partisan in some cases, but it's difficult to make the case that Twitter wasn't making a best effort to cur…

I'll try to find an article explaining the concept, but for right-wing authoritarians, the hypocrisy is the point. In group vs out group. https://level.medium.com/its-always-about-power-f9fca4321e0c

> the hypocrisy is the point.

I am right wing, and I hear right-wing commentators say things like "for left-wing authoritarians, the hypocrisy is the point" all the time. Seriously, the article you linked sounds exactly like something I would read from "my" side, just with good guys and bad guys reversed.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#108

Post by roflyear » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:52 AM UTC

starkd wrote: post #24

paulpauper wrote: post #7

3. Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary. 4. Between January 2020 and November 2022, there were over 150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth. How is this constant? This is just 1 request every 7 days . I figured it would be more. Also, it's called the FBI. Their job is to investigate federal matters, which includes content on socia…

The problem was that it was entirely biased to one side. They were actively looking to sway an election. Some were fairly innocuous small accounts. And they couldn't make exceptions for jokes or satire.

This isn't true, though? Seems like the coms I have seen are largely either neutral or balanced between benefiting various political parties.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#109

Post by jacquesm » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:52 AM UTC

sleepybrett wrote: post #101

joshuaheard wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's corruption. It's a violation of the First Amendment. It's a dangerous collusion between state and media. We should all be concerned.

It's literally none of those things. The FBI contacted trust and safety and said 'Hey we have concerns about these tweets'. Twitter decided to take them down in some cases. Who is corrupted here? Twitter for taking reports and then deciding how to react to them? The FBI for finding misinformation that might lead to crazies creating mass casualty events? The FBI at no time FORCED twitter to do anything. So it's not vi…

Given a large enough transgression they would have gone by a judge and probably gotten an enforceable order, but they chose to first ask nicely. But be assured that if you stonewall such a request and the matter is grave enough that you'll be served next, and rightly so.

This is just an optimization and a way to save everybody a lot of time and headaches, as well as a way to ensure that the genie gets put back into the bottle before something can grow legs and do a lot of damage. And with the degree to which social media has been weaponized that is a good thing.

Re: The Twitter Files, Part Six

#110

Post by tomohawk » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:52 AM UTC

wesleywt wrote: post #78

time_to_smile wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm seriously out of the loop on this, what were the actual crimes?

More accurately. What was the political speech banned?

The NY Post was banned for breaking a story about revelations contained in a laptop computer abandoned by Hunter Biden. This was just prior to a national election. The FBI was involved in pushing this narrative through Twitter.

The Babylon Bee is a satire site that was banned for doing satire.

There are many many examples.