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

The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

docpop.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 87 posts

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#11

Post by danpalmer »

I’ve seen a bit of how these sorts of things work and I’m going to give Meta the benefit of the doubt for the initial block, I’d like to think their leadership isn’t that brazen, and the fact this was fixed suggests an error. One bad piece of content (possibly related to critique of the incoming regime) tripped up an automated filter and took down a keyword at an unfortunate time.

What’s inexcusable is that it took so long to fix it. Taking so long caused the appearance of a strong political statement, and the fact that it took so long at least makes a statement about the importance of an issue like this in the company.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#12

Post by NVHacker »

Matthyze wrote: post #3

My (quite uninformed) take is that it was a show of loyalty from Zuckerberg or Meta to the Trump administration. Tech oligarchs have been trying to curry favor after Trump's win. Due to Meta's previous stance on fact-checking, Meta might have been asked to demonstrate its loyalty.

If that's true, this was just a test of a newly released "feature" rather than the "show of loyalty" itself.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#14

Post by Matthyze »

celdon25 wrote: post #4

> "The Day" So it was fine when they were censoring republicans, but only became "the day of infamy" when blocking the left... Zero acknowledgement or mention in the article about the history of censorship against the right. I thought they believed in equity?

You might argue that forms of fact-checking or moderation of controversial content constituted censorship, but you cannot believe that that equates to such explicit silencing of political opponents.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#15

Post by secretsatan »

celdon25 wrote: post #4

> "The Day" So it was fine when they were censoring republicans, but only became "the day of infamy" when blocking the left... Zero acknowledgement or mention in the article about the history of censorship against the right. I thought they believed in equity?

When did they censor the republicans?

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#16

Post by thih9 »

Did anyone successfully move away from instagram?

I have an account and sharing photos to a community there (people who I know irl and random strangers) brings me joy. I also have a pixelfed account but I know no people there and I was unsuccessful in switching.

I’d love to hear what others used or did that worked for them.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#17

Post by rofo1 »

celdon25 wrote: post #4

> "The Day" So it was fine when they were censoring republicans, but only became "the day of infamy" when blocking the left... Zero acknowledgement or mention in the article about the history of censorship against the right. I thought they believed in equity?

Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter. They didn't seem to have a problem with this. It's interesting how the brainwashing works: they always find a reason for whatever they do. "Empathy", "sympathy", "compassion" for whatever evil they do. "We are protecting innocent people from the Dangerous Thoughts".

When other groups do it to them, then they cry in the media in which they control.

The solution is simple: we should not censor free speech. IT WILL be turned against you. This should be a principled position, not one that depends on whether you like one party or another party...

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#18

Post by Matthyze »

NVHacker wrote: post #12
Matthyze wrote: post #3

My (quite uninformed) take is that it was a show of loyalty from Zuckerberg or Meta to the Trump administration. Tech oligarchs have been trying to curry favor after Trump's win. Due to Meta's previous stance on fact-checking, Meta might have been asked to demonstrate its loyalty.

If that's true, this was just a test of a newly released "feature" rather than the "show of loyalty" itself.

Yes, I believe that. Probably showing what they're both capable of doing and willing to do.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#20

Post by cbeach »

secretsatan wrote: post #15
celdon25 wrote: post #4

> "The Day" So it was fine when they were censoring republicans, but only became "the day of infamy" when blocking the left... Zero acknowledgement or mention in the article about the history of censorship against the right. I thought they believed in equity?

When did they censor the republicans?

Did you forget that Meta chose to shut down the account of a democratically-elected sitting Republican president?

Or is that (and other scandals eg the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story) a distant and obscure memory?

Post reply on HN