Live data from Hacker News

YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

newsweek.com

121–130 of 923 posts

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#121

If spreading misinformation is a valid means to shut down a channel then why do channels like Spirit Science remain? They got about 900k subs and spend the whole time spouting the most insane claims you could possibly think of with absolutely no evidence to back it up and yet they continue to remain.

Are you trying to tell me that charging my crystals is a waste of time?!

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#122
post #82

I very strongly feel that we should be very careful to avoid adopting a legalistic attitude towards freedom of speech. That is, I am opposed to the argument that private corporations are not bound by the first amendment, and therefore it's okay for them to suppress content. I agree that they're not bound by the first amendment (I don't claim to understand the nuances of the "platform" laws so I won't address that), b…

COVID-19 has added the additional element of this new concept of "disinformation". The argument is seductively simple: "being exposed to this information could lead you to engage in patterns of behavior that harm society. Therefore we can conceptualize this speech as being an indirect form of violence/negligence and therefore we have a moral obligation to remove such content". Some people, after being exposed to misi…

> Do you have evidence that the truth more often than not win over lies?

It doesn't. That's precisely why Icke's ban is necessary: he was incredibly popular.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#123

If spreading misinformation is a valid means to shut down a channel then why do channels like Spirit Science remain? They got about 900k subs and spend the whole time spouting the most insane claims you could possibly think of with absolutely no evidence to back it up and yet they continue to remain.

At a guess: the level of danger the misinformation poses to the public would be a deciding factor.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#124
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private institutions should be bound by the first amendment once they've reached a critical mass. The reason I say this is that, if a small number of entities control the flow of information, and they get away with picking and choosing who has the opportunity to be heard, then the first amendment is effectively made meaningless. I want to be able to choose what comments to allow on my block and, at the same time, I w…

The big problem with this argument is that youtube is the platform that "recommend" videos based on a hidden algorithm, leading to filter bubbles.

I definitely agree.

Yet when a platform like YouTube deletes accounts and publicly announces the censoring of information that doesn't conform with the Ministry of Information(aka the World Health Organization), there's no mystery that they're violating people's rights.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#125

I very strongly feel that we should be very careful to avoid adopting a legalistic attitude towards freedom of speech. That is, I am opposed to the argument that private corporations are not bound by the first amendment, and therefore it's okay for them to suppress content. I agree that they're not bound by the first amendment (I don't claim to understand the nuances of the "platform" laws so I won't address that), b…

The first amendment is about the government. Your speech is not illegal. The government cannot persecute you for your opinion or beliefs. It has absolutely nothing to do with your ability to be heard on the internet.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#126
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COVID-19 has added the additional element of this new concept of "disinformation". The argument is seductively simple: "being exposed to this information could lead you to engage in patterns of behavior that harm society. Therefore we can conceptualize this speech as being an indirect form of violence/negligence and therefore we have a moral obligation to remove such content". Some people, after being exposed to misi…

> Some people, after being exposed to misinformation, chose to believe them. You missed my point :) Humans, being inherently limited, are always at risk of being wrong. Being wrong about things is the default state. I simply don't think that we should strive to expunge all forms of "misinformation". That is to say, of course people believe misinformation. > Do you have evidence that the truth more often than not win…

YouTube is perfectly capable of objectively and correctly deciding that David Icke is full of shit.

And the Constitution decides that the truth is that the First Amendment doesn't apply to YouTube. That's an objective truth you seem to be unaware of.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yay another extremist swept under the digital carpet, problem solved - well NO. Well yes, at least partially. Studies of bans on hate communities on reddit have shown effectiveness not only in reducing the total hate, but also, and this is important, changing the behaviour of individual users who were active in the hate communities as they moved towards more moderate, diverse communities. [...] "What they found was…

The studies show that it reduced the amount of overt hate speech on reddit. That's not the same thing as reducing hate speech on reddit nor is it the same thing as reducing hate speech total. The people who left might've ended up creating seeds elsewhere. We don't know that. Furthermore, overt hate speech isn't necessarily the problem for society. It matters more for society what beliefs someone holds than what they…

That's ridiculous. Of course it matters what someone is willing to express. A person willing to express hateful speech is a person who is also more willing to engage in hateful acts.

Making it harder to cross that first line absolutely matters in making it harder for them to cross the line of becoming an active danger to others.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#128
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually it's been pretty conclusively shown that removing extremist content from mainstream channels pretty much prevents the ideas from propagating in the mainstream. If the cockroaches want to crawl under the fridge there's not much you can do to stop them but you can stop them from breeding on the table.

As everyone knows, nobody propagated strange conspiracy theories before the invention of YouTube and Twitter.

It might not be as relevant what the specific media is (internet, TV, print, etc.) so much as how dominant that media is.

So it could be the case that in the past conspiracy theorists didn't have access to the most dominant media (e.g. broadcast TV) while today they do.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#129
In threads like this I am usually thinking I am taking crazy pills. All this talk about freedom of speech of the neutrality of the platform. No, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter are not the "town square" they are the theater or the pub and every owner has the right to kick your ass out. If you really want to have it as public space have them regulated call your rep and push for it. It is crazy that in the land of free everyone has the right on their own property but not big tech companies. Especially because these companies can't make laws themselves, they have a responsibility to their shareholders and if advertising money takes a hit because there are crazy people on their platform doing crazy shit. They have to act and they can act until they are regulated or taken over by the state.

Re: YouTube has deleted the account of David Icke

#130
post #31

An amusing casualty. Newsweek states: >David Icke, Man Behind Coronavirus 5G Conspiracy Can this be true? Does David Icke have a following that isn't just laughing along with it? I remember his reptilian shapeshifter theory being a running joke from back when I was in high school in 2005! Surely, someone else must have started the whole 5G conspiracy theory, right? Icke just latched on to it?

My friend group were joking about it before we knew it was an actual conspiracy theory. This stuff is extremely predictable - Anti-5g, Anti-vaxx, Anti-whatever people will claim that everything bad is caused by the thing they're worried about - it was inevitable for the two to get linked imo.

Let me guess. Public schooling for you?
Post reply on HN