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How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

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Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#581

Post by at_a_remove »

ChicagoDave wrote: post #564

Hindsight is 20/20. We didn’t know anything about Covid in the early months and the CDC was following plans designed to counter something closer to the 1917 Spanish Flu. We should all be grateful they scared the crap out of us. What if a variant started killing kids? What if a variant started killing 25-35 year olds? Read history. That’s what happened when the Spanish Flu came around for a second swing. It wasn’t abo…

That's an interesting idea, but it completely falls apart if one remembers the "don't buy masks" phase of the CDC's efforts.

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#582

Post by [deleted] »

causi wrote: post #423
andreyk wrote: post #377

OK, so here's the key bit: "Twitter executives did not fully capitulate to the Biden team’s wishes. An extensive review of internal communications at the company revealed that employees often debated moderation cases in great detail, and with more care for free speech than was shown by the government. ... But Twitter did suppress views—and not just those of journalists like Berenson. Many medical and public health pr…

There WAS a LOT of misinformation about covid, and a lot of it could cause real harm. Quite true. Thing is, there wasn't that much of it before the CDC spent over a month spewing bullshit telling people not to wear masks because masks don't stop the spread of COVID. It was obvious to everyone and their dog that masks help stop the spread of respiratory infections. That irrevocably shattered a whole lot of people's fa…

[deleted]

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#583

Post by maskil »

SkipperCat wrote: post #100
twblalock wrote: post #62

This is what we get when we expect corporations to police speech, and when governments pressure them to do it. We really would be better off with no censorship. Even allowing obvious conspiracy theories and fake news is better than trying to police the truth and getting it wrong. When moderators get it wrong even one time they lose trust forever and give the conspiracy theorists even more ammo — in some cases by maki…

You are mistaking social media companies as platforms for speech. The are not. They are for profit companies that must police their content to attain maximum ad revenue. They will curate, filter and edit content solely for that purpose. I don’t know why everyone is so up in arms about what Twitter does on their website. If it vanished tomorrow, I’d be fine. Most of us knew what was going in the 90’s just fine.

Twitter is by far and away the #1 place to exchange and debate ideas. It is critical that speech on it remains free.

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#584

Post by cokeandpepsi »

arcticbull wrote: post #432
causi wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There WAS a LOT of misinformation about covid, and a lot of it could cause real harm. Quite true. Thing is, there wasn't that much of it before the CDC spent over a month spewing bullshit telling people not to wear masks because masks don't stop the spread of COVID. It was obvious to everyone and their dog that masks help stop the spread of respiratory infections. That irrevocably shattered a whole lot of people's fa…

> Thing is, there wasn't that much of it before the CDC spent over a month spewing bullshit telling people not to wear masks because masks don't stop the spread of COVID. They made it clear after the fact that this was done because there wasn't an adequate supply of masks for 330M people, and they needed to secure a supply for first responders. The job of the government is to make tough decisions like this in times o…

> They made it clear after the fact that this was done because there wasn't an adequate supply of masks for 330M people

Partly..

There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit. In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said at a media briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.

“There also is the issue that we have a massive global shortage,” Ryan said about masks and other medical supplies

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/world/coronavirus-who-masks-r...

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#585

Post by sokoloff »

gadders wrote: post #522
arcticbull wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's still lying. They gave you, the individual, false information, ... Yes it was lying. Yes it was false information. No, that's not outside the scope of their role at times. > ... and not for your own good. Quite the contrary, that misinformation would actually harm you if you believed it. No, it was for the individual good. Hoarding of masks by randos in the middle of nowhere leading to no supply for the firs…

Once you realise governments feel justified using the "noble lie", you will never trust them again.

That should be put in the “pro” column when judging the CDC’s actions then?

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#586

Post by concordDance »

echelon wrote: post #513
eddhead wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jim Baker is a double agent for the FBI. Everyone is Quite obvious of why he was there.

> Jim Baker is a double agent for the FBI. Geopolitical hat on. Elon Musk is getting close to the Saudis (Twitter), China (Gigafactory Shanghai), and Russians (necessary industrial inputs). In the past few months he's casually suggested a handover of Ukraine and Taiwan. Now he's turning on the Democrats and the FBI, or at least certain members of those organizations. My mind wonders if the DoD will sour on his role a…

I'd bet good money Musk is no more entangled in those countries than any other big Corp or billionaire. Everyone has Chinese suppliers and Saudi investors.

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#587

Post by kevinmrose »

ethanbond wrote: post #573
newsclues wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone that has been trained by one of the few organizations that develops leadership (military)... The communications and advise from the medical establishment and media, were so terrible that that I question incompetence and lean towards corruption. The flip flopping, the political and idealogical justifications, the theatre of everything without substance. The People can handle nuanced messaging, what they can…

Yeah see people say all this but the actual example they use is a thing that didn’t happen. The nuanced, correct message was that we don’t know if masks work. That’s what they said. What you heard was “masks don’t work.” So what we actually learned is that people are not capable of receiving nuanced messages, at least among the people who are pissed off about not having received a nuanced message (which they did).

So they still don't know if masks work? Can we get a concrete answer on this at some point? It seems like this type of back and forth messaging is the problem. Maybe we should all apologize to people who questioned the need to wear masks if we still don't know whether or not they're effective.

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#588

Post by JoBrad »

paganel wrote: post #393
andreyk wrote: post #377

OK, so here's the key bit: "Twitter executives did not fully capitulate to the Biden team’s wishes. An extensive review of internal communications at the company revealed that employees often debated moderation cases in great detail, and with more care for free speech than was shown by the government. ... But Twitter did suppress views—and not just those of journalists like Berenson. Many medical and public health pr…

> it shows that the government leaned on Twitter to do what it wanted but not able to mandate it, Why does a government has to "lean" on a private media company in a "democrat" and "liberal" democracy? Not able to "mandate" is total bs, see the Pentagon-related leaks where there wasn't any need of any "mandating". If anything, this shows how hypocritical the whole industry has become, including many of its workers. H…

You do recall the extreme levels of misinformation that were present during 2020, right? Hospitals running out of medical equipment while people were stocking up and re-selling them? Civil War was a concern, at least in my part of the country. We had police manning the entrances to stores like Walmart and Academy sports because they couldn’t let more than a few people in at a time, and armed idiots were trying to force their way in to prove it was all a scam to control our brains.

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#589

Post by JoBrad »

finikytou wrote: post #505
jamiek88 wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S101113442... thats ok. you can lie and twist the reality but it won't work with people who can read or listen.

Pretty sure this study was put out to see if his remarks had any merit at all.

Re: How Twitter moderated the Covid debate

#590

Post by concordDance »

danShumway wrote: post #399
andreyk wrote: post #377

OK, so here's the key bit: "Twitter executives did not fully capitulate to the Biden team’s wishes. An extensive review of internal communications at the company revealed that employees often debated moderation cases in great detail, and with more care for free speech than was shown by the government. ... But Twitter did suppress views—and not just those of journalists like Berenson. Many medical and public health pr…

> But Twitter did suppress views—and not just those of journalists like Berenson. Many medical and public health professionals who expressed perspectives or even cited findings from accredited academic journals that conflicted with official positions were also targeted. ... There were three serious problems with Twitter’s process [bots, contractors, and biased decision making by top level execs]". ---- These debates…

Mastodon seems vulnerable to ideological splitting where you get two parallel worlds that don't talk to each other. E.g. one that believes that transwomen aren't women and that Africans are less intelligent and one that doesn't.
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