Context: the popular account is a promoter of Muslim Brotherhood, banned by US and many Mideast countries.
Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
11–20 of 167 posts
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#12Crazy that these mega corporations still bow to the requests of countries. Would they do the same of any important actor requesting censorship? like if Elon or Bezos make a request, they'd get ignored, even though they're more powerful than Kuwait.
Elon and Bezos aren't more powerful than Kuwait. Kuwait is a sovereign government, with authority to write laws, raise an army, and do whatever it wants with its 5M+ citizens (draft them, imprison people, execute people, etc.) with pretty much no consequence unless they're absurdly reckless. There is more to power than money.
Kuwait cannot do any of that unilaterally. They are a vassal state in the american hegemony.
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#13In a sane world, the US as a supposed bastion of free speech and personal liberties would enact legislation that requires companies to provide a specific, articulable reason for suspending accounts due to rules violations and offer everyone the chance to appeal. That would serve as a counterbalance to more authoritarian regimes insisting companies like Meta censor people, even if the US can’t guarantee it for people not affiliated with the US. Unfortunately, the US seems more intent on censoring its own residents and becoming one of those authoritarian regimes than actually doing anything about it.
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#14My favorite part is all that Meta will say is "account doesn't follow Community Standards" [1]. Impossible to defend against such a vague accusation, and they get to keep the real reason secret. [1] Really they're Meta's standards - it wasn't "the community" that wrote them.
Yes but this is different - a Muslim country enforcing its own rules against an Islamist activist, and Meta complying.
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Elon and Bezos aren't more powerful than Kuwait. Kuwait is a sovereign government, with authority to write laws, raise an army, and do whatever it wants with its 5M+ citizens (draft them, imprison people, execute people, etc.) with pretty much no consequence unless they're absurdly reckless. There is more to power than money.
Kuwait cannot do any of that unilaterally. They are a vassal state in the american hegemony.
are we talking in theory or practice?
Kuwait's sovereign fund has about 1 trillion under management. A couple of phone calls about disposals and its surprising what changes.
However, its my understanding that this page was promoting/representing the Muslim Brotherhood.
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#16My favorite part is all that Meta will say is "account doesn't follow Community Standards" [1]. Impossible to defend against such a vague accusation, and they get to keep the real reason secret. [1] Really they're Meta's standards - it wasn't "the community" that wrote them.
> it wasn't "the community" that wrote them.
Have you read them? they are acutally quite good. its a shame they are not enforced evenly.
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#17My favorite part is all that Meta will say is "account doesn't follow Community Standards" [1]. Impossible to defend against such a vague accusation, and they get to keep the real reason secret. [1] Really they're Meta's standards - it wasn't "the community" that wrote them.
Yes but this is different - a Muslim country enforcing its own rules against an Islamist activist, and Meta complying.
Then Meta can write "account disabled due to legal order by the Kuwait judiciary", or wherever the order came from, instead of hiding behind "Community Standards".
I see this all the time in such cases - deflections about the legality of censorship, to avoid the issue that they want to keep the censorship itself, or the source of it, secret. "They" in this case being Meta, unless they produce a legal order compelling them to deceive us.
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#18In a sane world, the US as a supposed bastion of free speech and personal liberties would enact legislation that requires companies to provide a specific, articulable reason for suspending accounts due to rules violations and offer everyone the chance to appeal. That would serve as a counterbalance to more authoritarian regimes insisting companies like Meta censor people, even if the US can’t guarantee it for people…
[flagged]
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes but this is different - a Muslim country enforcing its own rules against an Islamist activist, and Meta complying.
Then Meta can write "account disabled due to legal order by the Kuwait judiciary", or wherever the order came from, instead of hiding behind "Community Standards". I see this all the time in such cases - deflections about the legality of censorship, to avoid the issue that they want to keep the censorship itself, or the source of it, secret . "They" in this case being Meta, unless they produce a legal order compellin…
Yes more clarity better.
Here is summary of Kuwait laws
Re: Meta deletes popular 1M follower account after Kuwaiti request
#20Crazy that these mega corporations still bow to the requests of countries. Would they do the same of any important actor requesting censorship? like if Elon or Bezos make a request, they'd get ignored, even though they're more powerful than Kuwait.
> these mega corporations
The US would "bow" to the requests of Kuwait, too. Because it's less "bowing" than that they don't care about you, and Kuwait now owes them a favor.
> if Elon or Bezos make a request, they'd get ignored
Not a chance. Elon and Bezos could probably tell Kuwait to kill somebody and they would.