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Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

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Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#41
post #4

I'm not even opposed to flagging posts as “fake, false or misleading” because abusing those flags will cause them to be ignored, but removing content is a problem. State censorship is a much bigger threat to Democracy than false or misleading tweets and facebook posts.

I find it fascinating that people defend censoring "misinformation" because people (supposedly) cannot discern it from "real" information. If we cannot trust the judgement of the common folk, why have a democracy at all?

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banning hate speech is not censorship.

Censorship: the action of preventing part or the whole of a book, film, work of art, document, or other kind of communication from being seen or made available to the public, because it is considered to be offensive or harmful , or because it contains information that someone wishes to keep secret, often for political reasons https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/censorsh...

Then banning bomb making is censorship but there’s no opposition to that.

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#43
post #4

I'm not even opposed to flagging posts as “fake, false or misleading” because abusing those flags will cause them to be ignored, but removing content is a problem. State censorship is a much bigger threat to Democracy than false or misleading tweets and facebook posts.

Ten years ago I would have agreed. Today? I'm not sure you're right about which is the greater threat. Yes, state censorship can be abused. But promoting misinformation is a known threat to Democracy today . Right now. I'm not sure what the real answer should be. If "the market" manages to get the propaganda farms' misinformation under control, then great. If they don't , the only answer I can see is for government t…

And how much do you know about the Indian government?

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#44
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes no sense. Democracy is not going to die because people spread false information. Newspapers have had the monopoly on spreading whatever information they deemed correct (whether it turned out to be or not) for decades and have now lost that and they are pissed. This is why there is a rise in apparent outcry that all of a sudden anyone and everyone can spread their message broadly where only a handful of org…

> Democracy is not going to die because people spread false information. That is exactly what is going to happen. People do not have the tools to discern truth given plausible misinformation. > you are free to have an open debate and correct the record. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini's_law > The government having the power to decide who can say what and what is "true" or "false"... Indeed, that is a risk, b…

"Truth" is not something that can be discerned even in the absence of misinformation. It is a constantly evolving and negotiated equilibrium between the individual and their environment through the imperfect filter of perception. To put the reins of "fact-checking" in government control is simply a shortcut to tyranny, and not something that can stifle the death of democracy.

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#45
post #4

I'm not even opposed to flagging posts as “fake, false or misleading” because abusing those flags will cause them to be ignored, but removing content is a problem. State censorship is a much bigger threat to Democracy than false or misleading tweets and facebook posts.

Ten years ago I would have agreed. Today? I'm not sure you're right about which is the greater threat. Yes, state censorship can be abused. But promoting misinformation is a known threat to Democracy today . Right now. I'm not sure what the real answer should be. If "the market" manages to get the propaganda farms' misinformation under control, then great. If they don't , the only answer I can see is for government t…

This kind of thinking of yours is far a bigger threat, among other things because it means goverment have the very strong incentive for social media to NOT get the propaganda farms under control because that way it has a public excuse to step in and abuse that position with totalitarian censorchip; a big red flag that points this to be the case is how this censorship is planed, is not in the slightest a democratical censorship that includes the input of local and international journalists or opposition leaders.

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#46

Unfortunate that this rightward lurch by the Modi government (still incredibly popular in India) will be ignored by the "west" due to competition with China. India considers unfettered social media and speech a threat to stability, just like China.

It's true that the US has a lot of reasons to play nice with India, but even if they didn't, there's not much I'd expect the US to do in this situation. Maybe Blinken would make a statement. But this isn't the kind of thing that historically results in sanctions or officially curtailing the bilateral relationship.

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#47
Yesterday I learned that Canada is the fourth oldest ongoing democracy, measured as beginning in 1867.

I think given our short lifespans, anything that our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents enjoyed is really easy to perceive as a steady state. Something to take for granted as being invariant. But it’s really not.

While it’s possible to debate the specifics and semantics, this really brought into focus, for me, just how young modern democracy is with a rather unproven durability.

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#48
post #4

I'm not even opposed to flagging posts as “fake, false or misleading” because abusing those flags will cause them to be ignored, but removing content is a problem. State censorship is a much bigger threat to Democracy than false or misleading tweets and facebook posts.

I find it fascinating that people defend censoring "misinformation" because people (supposedly) cannot discern it from "real" information. If we cannot trust the judgement of the common folk, why have a democracy at all?

I mean, have you seen the common folk?

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#49

Unfortunate that this rightward lurch by the Modi government (still incredibly popular in India) will be ignored by the "west" due to competition with China. India considers unfettered social media and speech a threat to stability, just like China.

[dead]

Re: Indian government empowers itself to “fact check,” delete social media posts

#50
post #17

Interesting, because Indian Government recently jailed an independent fact checker for a tweet he made 4 years ago. This new body seems to be a tool to suppress dissent and promote the fake news machinery Government and the ruling party is notorious for. https://www.cnbctv18.com/india/alt-news-pratik-sinha-mohamma...

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