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

Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

nbcnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 200 posts

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#111

Post by nightski »

DerpyBaby123 wrote: post #13
umvi wrote: post #2

The implication from the committee is that these companies should have monitored and suppressed/censored their users harder? Is the committee looking for a scapegoat or something?

Why do you jump to that conclusion? Youtube's algo is long suspected of pushing more and more extreme/radical content, and the comittee seems to be looking for more information on if that process affected the Jan 6 riot That's not looking for a scapegoat; it's looking for a set of root causes

Maybe congress should look inward? There is no end to the divisiveness in congress on both sides. We used to be able to compromise and make progress. Now we just use any loophole possible to avoid dealing with the other side. Not only that they constantly trash, berate, and spread fear about the other side.

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#112

Post by MiroF »

IgorPartola wrote: post #19
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #9

We have a First Amendment... but if you run a platform that does not even use the First Amendment, you'll get subpoenaed and harassed. In theory, I ran a platform that protected everything the First Amendment did, and protected nothing that the Amendment did not protect, I should be legally in the clear. But I'm not going to attempt such a thing - because it's clear Congress would do the ultimate shakedown.

How to misunderstand the situation 101: bring the first amendment into the discussion when that’s not what the discussion is about. Let me break this down for you: you host a weekly poker night. My buddies and I come and during these nights plan a crime. We than carry out a crime and get arrested. The investigators come to you and ask “what did those guys talk about at your poker nights?” You say “poker stuff”. They…

> They subpoena you to get a better answer

Sure except the subpoena in question was not actually about records of conversations that the rioters had, it was about efforts FB did/didn't take to discount election misinformation.

Election misinformation is covered by free speech.

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#113

Post by tsol »

rootusrootus wrote: post #78
IgorPartola wrote: post #28

I get some kind of sick satisfaction out of watching a certain small subset of HN lose their mind trying to square the circle when it comes to stuff like this. On one hand “this is government overreach!” (it’s not because the committee here is on a specific task to investigate a specific crime) and “free market!” and on the other hand “big social media companies are evil and decide what’s right and what’s wrong.” Nev…

AFAICT political tribes rule everything now, and the actual policy issues are unimportant. I rarely see anyone discussing policy, everything is very shallow, very personal.

It feels like policy isn't correlated with action, sometimes even with the conversation

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#114

Post by MiroF »

cmiles74 wrote: post #75
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #7

This kind of pressure on companies to censor seems like an end around on the first amendment. It technically is not the government censoring or mandating censorship, but it uses the threat of government power and the power to irritate and harass for companies that don't toe the line. Unfortunately, I can only see this getting worse. For example, if the Republicans come to power in 2022, I can see them having a commit…

The larger issue, in my opinion, is that people seem to be looking less for clear and understandable information about current events and more for skewed (possibly even false) information that they find entertaining, comforting, etc. I can understand why some people might think the next step would be to improve the quality of the information from the sources that are providing this skewed, stilted and possibly even f…

> That said I don't have a good solution. Maybe somehow promoting better sources of news or making it easier for these more reliable news sources to generate income.

I think the basic idea is that the government shouldn't be involved in institutionalizing or promoting preferred media narratives of any form.

I disagree that the "larger issue" is that people are misinformed. In fact, I would suggest that there have been several thousand years where people were horribly misinformed on a number of topics.

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#115

Post by MiroF »

lapsedacademic wrote: post #97
altgoogler wrote: post #12

Disclaimer: am googler, my opinions are my own. I have no non-public knowledge on this topic. It's not clear to me what the House committee is asking for. From what I read in their letters it's basically, "We think you have more than you've given us, so give it to us". That's not how this works. If you want to subpoena information, you need to be specific and targeted. If you don't get what you think you want, call p…

> If you want to subpoena information, you need to be specific and targeted On one hand, a congressional subpoena for "non-public moderation discussions and policies" is broad. On the other hand, there is certainly some version of that request that is within reasonable scope for a subpoena. In the hypothetical world where passing legislation in the US were still possible and Congress was capable of regulating Big Tec…

Big tech, like high finance, is a Democrat aligned industry. Big Oil is a Republican aligned industry.

Leftists are anti-corporate power in the public sphere.

None of this is paradoxical.

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#116

Post by yonaguska »

Bhilai wrote: post #15
oxymoran wrote: post #4

Man, the democrats are really trying to hand republicans every election for the next decade.

Man, I wish I could vote for some sane republicans but as its turning out their complicity or silence on Jan 6 is making me believe that entire party is unhinged like Trump.

You just live in a completely different world. One side sees Jan 6 as an insurrection, the other side sees it as a modern day Reichstag fire. Republicans cannot actually abandon the latter narrative, because so much of their base see the election as actually stolen. Anecdotally, I have friends that voted for Biden and still don't believe the election was legitimate. The failures of the the current administration and their response to Jan 6 is only supporting this narrative for those that buy into it. A fortified capital for months after an election of the most popular president ever elected dies not inspire confidence. The blatantly political use of the DOJ to slap the label of terrorists on concerned parents does not inspire confidence. Unconstitutional federal mandates being imposed does not inspire confidence. Even if you are horrified by what happened j6, you're looking for sane republicans to vote for.

I think that if the current administration continues on it's trajectory, people will simply care less and less about j6. Because their everyday lives are being impacted more and more by hostile policies.

Keeping prisoners held in inhumane conditions while awaiting trial is also not helping. Even Democrats are calling this issue out. It was sickening when we did it to foreigners in gitmo, and it's sickening now.

I wish we saw some honest attempts and transparency at figuring out what happened, but... without that- the schism is only widening.

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#117

Post by _fat_santa »

hammock wrote: post #84
altgoogler wrote: post #12

Disclaimer: am googler, my opinions are my own. I have no non-public knowledge on this topic. It's not clear to me what the House committee is asking for. From what I read in their letters it's basically, "We think you have more than you've given us, so give it to us". That's not how this works. If you want to subpoena information, you need to be specific and targeted. If you don't get what you think you want, call p…

>It's not clear to me what the House committee is asking for. They are asking for TV time

Yep. Have a regular committee hearing, you get a few outlets to report on it. Haul in the CEO's of these companies to testify and you've got a news media event for days.

I'm sure there is some actual substance to these hearings and there most likely is info that they want to learn. But at this point I will say the whole thing around Jan 6 is 10% substance and 90% media theater.

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#118

Post by tootie »

Bhilai wrote: post #15
oxymoran wrote: post #4

Man, the democrats are really trying to hand republicans every election for the next decade.

Man, I wish I could vote for some sane republicans but as its turning out their complicity or silence on Jan 6 is making me believe that entire party is unhinged like Trump.

IMO, the most sane and moderate republicans are still pretty miserable on policy. Anyone who isn't all in on climate change is endangering the world.

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#119

Post by coolso »

IgorPartola wrote: post #28

I get some kind of sick satisfaction out of watching a certain small subset of HN lose their mind trying to square the circle when it comes to stuff like this. On one hand “this is government overreach!” (it’s not because the committee here is on a specific task to investigate a specific crime) and “free market!” and on the other hand “big social media companies are evil and decide what’s right and what’s wrong.” Nev…

This sounds personal, and reads like you read headlines every day from 2016-2020 and got very angry at “someone” (there is a common term for this) and now you are happy that the shoe is on the other foot, despite it being a false equivalence and no such similar syndrome existing for the other side?

Re: Jan 6 committee subpoenas Meta, Google, Reddit etc. after 'inadequate responses'

#120

Post by tootie »

yonaguska wrote: post #116
Bhilai wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I wish I could vote for some sane republicans but as its turning out their complicity or silence on Jan 6 is making me believe that entire party is unhinged like Trump.

You just live in a completely different world. One side sees Jan 6 as an insurrection, the other side sees it as a modern day Reichstag fire. Republicans cannot actually abandon the latter narrative, because so much of their base see the election as actually stolen. Anecdotally, I have friends that voted for Biden and still don't believe the election was legitimate. The failures of the the current administration and…

Concerned parents labelled terrorists? False: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/18/instagram-...

You (and your friends if they are real) are propaganda victims.

Post reply on HN