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Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

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Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#71

Post by tejohnso »

p-e-w wrote: post #9
skeledrew wrote: post #2

Well, it's that or the accounts get removed completely. Sometimes you have to pick your fight, and this doesn't look like one that's worth it.

Not true, there’s a third option: Stop operating in those countries. Which used to be a common choice for tech companies, until it somehow became unthinkable for some reason.

Meta is not a political or moral entity, it's a for profit tech company. I don't see why it would be expected to make judgement calls on government requirements. Are we expecting Meta to take a political stance for or against specific policies in every country in which it operates? How would its politics be determined? I think the sensible thing for the corporation to do is to operate as widely as possible and follow the rules where it operates.

Governments suppress information all the time. We know of a huge list of thousands of documents and terabytes of video implicating people in child abuse and as important as that is, we aren't getting all of the information. That's the government position. Redact and suppress. It's up to the people to demand transparency from their government and if they don't demand it and fight for it, they won't get it. Corporations like Meta aren't there to help fight the power.

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#72

Post by chadgpt3 »

ktm5j wrote: post #12

Do folks have a suggestion for a Facebook alternative? I'm about fed up with the state of things, but still want to feel connected to social circles (even if they're online only) and politics (ideally without the hate spam bots).

What do you use it for? There's never a single alternative to a social media platform the way there is for say online shopping - the experience isn't fungible. But you may be able to find another platform to fulfil the same purposes.

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#73

Post by tclancy »

jazzypants wrote: post #58
mannanj wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this not a Straw Man, as I'm hearing you say "they do the bare minimum in terms of content moderation and bots" whereas if as the title of the article claims, meta is instead "blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences" then the problem is that the content moderation itself is the problem, not "not doing enough" in content moderation. It's their content moderation and perhaps bot policies causing damage.…

Buddy... Are you a doctor? Are you a scientist? Why do you think that you have an inalienable right to proselytize your "health practices" on a public forum? My experience was that there wasn't nearly enough moderation on social media about Covid. The absurd amount of misinformation was the final straw that finally got me to leave Facebook and Instagram.

Because giving every maniac an equal voice and hearing them out is asymmetric. They have the burden of proof to have said “my perfectly validated facts I’ve learned in two decades as a scientist” or whatever if they wanted to provide that context.

Then again, here I am arguing in good faith with you, so more the fool I.

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#74

Post by chadgpt3 »

anonym29 wrote: post #5

I look forward to the day that society finally decides to hold Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Apple etc accountable for their transgressions against humanity. Some say it will never happen, but they said that about the now-dying tobacco industry, too.

Didn't they just lose a huge lawsuit about addictive engineering?

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#75

Post by jazzypants »

chadgpt3 wrote: post #66
jazzypants wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buddy... Are you a doctor? Are you a scientist? Why do you think that you have an inalienable right to proselytize your "health practices" on a public forum? My experience was that there wasn't nearly enough moderation on social media about Covid. The absurd amount of misinformation was the final straw that finally got me to leave Facebook and Instagram.

How about we first ask what the practices are before we judge the practices?

Which part of my post judged the practices? I just want to understand the other user's motivation for complaining because my experience was the polar opposite. I am related to several health professionals, and none of them ever complained about feeling censored in any way.

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#77

Post by jazzypants »

bayindirh wrote: post #67
jazzypants wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buddy... Are you a doctor? Are you a scientist? Why do you think that you have an inalienable right to proselytize your "health practices" on a public forum? My experience was that there wasn't nearly enough moderation on social media about Covid. The absurd amount of misinformation was the final straw that finally got me to leave Facebook and Instagram.

The problem during the pandemic was, even health professionals' personal accounts got censored. It was hectic.

This was not the experience of the health professionals that I know, but I will take your word for it.

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#78

Post by stellamariesays »

0x5FC3 wrote: post #18

Social media companies post record earnings year after year from their ads business while increasingly proving to be harmful to society. They do the bare minimum in terms of content moderation and bots while priming the algorithms to maximize revenue. The good ol' privatized profits, socialized harm model. In a just world, would social media platforms be taxed higher on corporate revenue and how would that pan out? M…

[flagged]

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#79

Post by fg137 »

satiric wrote: post #31
graemep wrote: post #3

The title should read "Saudi Arabia". Cutting a country name in half (unless its an accepted way of abbreviating it) is not a good say of modifying a headline. What is next? Zealand ?

Looks like the original title is too long for Hackernews

It could have used "Saudi" for more clarity while saving one character

Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE

#80

Post by mannanj »

jazzypants wrote: post #58
mannanj wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this not a Straw Man, as I'm hearing you say "they do the bare minimum in terms of content moderation and bots" whereas if as the title of the article claims, meta is instead "blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences" then the problem is that the content moderation itself is the problem, not "not doing enough" in content moderation. It's their content moderation and perhaps bot policies causing damage.…

Buddy... Are you a doctor? Are you a scientist? Why do you think that you have an inalienable right to proselytize your "health practices" on a public forum? My experience was that there wasn't nearly enough moderation on social media about Covid. The absurd amount of misinformation was the final straw that finally got me to leave Facebook and Instagram.

I see. So you employ the Ad Hominem style fallacies to attack my credibility. No thank you.

Unlike you, I listen with an open mind and curiosity. It's led me to an obsession in my health practices as a nearly full-time job for about 10 years, I don't just blindly follow what I'm spoon fed by a doctor or some authority figure. And neither do I blindly call forth the label of "science" to win approval and credibility.

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