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I saw Twitter's Public Policy team melting down about this. What did they expect? Pandora's Box has been opened
I can see a future where something like this becomes default in most countries. Unthinkable just a few years ago.
The difference, as I understand it, is that the government made the choice for people rather than a private organization. Under the US constitution, free speech means that the government cannot limit your speech except in narrow circumstances. This has no bearing on private organizations, which is why Twitter can ban users.
US constitution? This happened in Uganda.
I saw Twitter's Public Policy team melting down about this. What did they expect? Pandora's Box has been opened
Please. Uganda ran newspapers out of the country, they routinely arrest opposing politicians, and they remove anything that might get in the way of the dictator staying in power. Museveni shuts down opposition - it has nothing to do with Twitter other than the fact that Twitter is a popular form of communication.
It turns out that once you shut down the leader of the world's largest empire, every tinpot thug who fears losing their ability to control their citizens will shut down access to your platform. Whoda thunk? It has nothing to do with right and wrong and everything to do with realpolitik.
EDIT: In fact, Twitter has done more than just ban a few leaders, removing many accounts associated with QAnon, for example [1]. The point still stands that context matters and the two situations don't appear to be exactly equivalent. (It can still be argued that Twitter's ban was not good for society, but the argument should be more nuanced than "because censorship is always bad".)
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/11/trump-t...
Twitter’s official statement on this is one for the history books: https://mobile.twitter.com/Policy/status/1349059275461685250
The phrase of the day is "Cognitive Dissonance".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please. Uganda ran newspapers out of the country, they routinely arrest opposing politicians, and they remove anything that might get in the way of the dictator staying in power. Museveni shuts down opposition - it has nothing to do with Twitter other than the fact that Twitter is a popular form of communication.
Well, yeah, it's a dictatorship run by warlords. It turns out that once you shut down the leader of the world's largest empire, every tinpot thug who fears losing their ability to control their citizens will shut down access to your platform. Whoda thunk? It has nothing to do with right and wrong and everything to do with realpolitik.
Twitter’s official statement on this is one for the history books: https://mobile.twitter.com/Policy/status/1349059275461685250