71–80 of 119 posts
This happens all the time in Google Play, how do you protect against random take downs? You have several copies of your dev account or channel. That's it, you become a spammer to defend against the bot that "protects" us from spammers.
This happens all the time in Google Play, how do you protect against random take downs? You have several copies of your dev account or channel. That's it, you become a spammer to defend against the bot that "protects" us from spammers.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It bothers me a lot the ideological hatred for regulations commonly found on HN. This is exactly a showcase why regulations for digital markets/marketplaces need to exist. We simply cannot trust huge platforms to care about the small to medium developers, people who are essentially powerless against a behemoth like Google or Apple. You get your app taken down, your account locked and the only recourse left would be s…
Right now you're correct that the only form of recourse users have is to sue the companies, but you're not entirely correct that it takes spending six figures. You can sue them in San Mateo county and have the case adjudicated in a court which does not allow lawyers for either side and which has the power to compel a Google or a Facebook to reverse an erroneous moderation decision. https://www.engadget.com/how-small-…
And then you get Meta failing to show up, but asking for a set-aside afterwards because... they failed to show up.
It's aggressive customer contempt. This is someone's livelihood, possibly their entire livelihood, and these bobbleheads treat it like a joke.
Don't worry, you can appeal at the GMAFIA robot. Who will instantly deny you.
Just like with Facebook/Instagram, if your account gets taken over and then banned because the hackers used it for spam/scams, there’s no way to get your account back. There’s an “appeal” button where a robot instantly denies your appeal without any opportunity to provide evidence. It’s not a joke. Once you’re locked out, you’re fucked. Meta doesn’t give a shit about its users, that’s the only way this business model…
Happened to one of my relatives recently. Their (at least 10 years old) Facebook account has been linked by some hacker (I don't know how) with some unknown Instagram account, which then misbehaved, and the FB account was suspended as a result. A message says that the decision can be appealed from the unknown Instagram account to which we never had access and is not anymore linked. Reddit is full of people that had the exact same issue. Drives me crazy the fact that there's absolutely no way to talk to any human to solve this.
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TikTok doesn't require an account to view videos.
There is tremendous friction on mobile for watching TikTok videos without an account. I do not have a TikTok account and have had videos just not work without signing up. Not sure if they have been AB testing this or something because once in a while the video does work.
Might be moot, but the shutdown email mentions "spam, scam or deceptive practices", not just "reasons". Without any context about the owner of the channel, the reader has no way to know how unfair the shutdown is. I understand from the HN thread that the dev is well known and that the shutdown seems unfair - but it's always hard to share the outrage in this situation. Best of luck to the channel's owner - let's hope…
Might be moot, but the shutdown email mentions "spam, scam or deceptive practices", not just "reasons". Without any context about the owner of the channel, the reader has no way to know how unfair the shutdown is. I understand from the HN thread that the dev is well known and that the shutdown seems unfair - but it's always hard to share the outrage in this situation. Best of luck to the channel's owner - let's hope…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seen what, all I see is a tweet that there isn't an archive? Or is that tweet about the parent post?
I just pulled together a bunch of notes here, since linking to Twitter sucks now (logged out users can't navigate conversations): https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/3/a-computer-can-never-be...
On topic: I think our whole current Ad-economy is cancerous-- the decoupling of incentives between platforms and consumers/customers is IMO a bad trend for all of us long term (both sides), and having public attention/sentiment basically permanently on sale is yet another can of worms. I really hope we can learn to deal with this before it ruins our society. On the other hand, there are so many possibilities opening up, and generally just things improving without anyone much noticing, I'll still take unaccountable, capricious corporate overlords any day of the week in exchange. I would not want to live in any other time in the past if I had to make an honest choice.
Maybe the "customer support via HN/twitter" model can save the day here at least for this (as ugly as that whole concept is).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It bothers me a lot the ideological hatred for regulations commonly found on HN. This is exactly a showcase why regulations for digital markets/marketplaces need to exist. We simply cannot trust huge platforms to care about the small to medium developers, people who are essentially powerless against a behemoth like Google or Apple. You get your app taken down, your account locked and the only recourse left would be s…
Right now you're correct that the only form of recourse users have is to sue the companies, but you're not entirely correct that it takes spending six figures. You can sue them in San Mateo county and have the case adjudicated in a court which does not allow lawyers for either side and which has the power to compel a Google or a Facebook to reverse an erroneous moderation decision. https://www.engadget.com/how-small-…
When Poland was in the Soviet bloc (post-WWII until 1989), there was the "Main Office for the Control of Press, Publications, and Performances." Every censor working there was known by their full name, and you could even negotiate with them on certain issues when publishing a book, movie, etc. This was classic censorship but based on some old-fashioned rules. Now, Big Tech can censor your work while providing only a…