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Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

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Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#131

Post by ardy42 »

stretchcat wrote: post #128
ardy42 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What matters is whether their reporting is factual or not. In this case, there seems to be little doubt that the reporting is factual; the reported lawsuit does exist and does make the reported claims. That matters, but it isn't the only thing that matters. Again: the fact that the NY Post themselves didn't outright lie in this story does little to refute the idea that they're a disreputable paper. The way they cho…

I am not disputing that the NYPost is disreputable, do I need to say this more? I am saying the deservedly poor reputation of the NYPost is irrelevant in this case because the reported facts are easy to independently verify. The reputation of a newspaper counts when their reputation is what we must rely on, which is not the case here. The NYPost's source is a public filing linked elsewhere in this discussion. If you…

> I am saying the deservedly poor reputation of the NYPost is irrelevant in this case because the reported facts are easy to independently verify. The reputation of a newspaper counts when their reputation is what we must rely on, which is not the case here.

That's where we disagree. You're saying the the only job of a paper is to report true facts (or at least try its best). I'm saying its job is to report true facts and true impressions. True facts can be used to create false impressions, and the impression created often matters the most, especially when you know your readers aren't going to read your story like a careful lawyer.

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#132

Post by stickfigure »

fernandotakai wrote: post #65
baby wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Write an article about it

there already articles about it. according to one of them, twitter changed their TOS to allow people to discuss their attraction to minors on their platform[0]. people always take about "dog whistles" -- imho this is a big one, at least for me. allowing pedophiles to discuss their attraction to minors openly on your platform is completely absurd. [0] https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2020/01/09/twitter-lets-p...

This reminds me of an old episode of This American Life:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/522/tarred-and-feathered

There's one group of people that is universally tarred and feathered in the United States and most of the world. We never hear from them, because they can't identify themselves without putting their livelihoods and reputations at risk. That group is pedophiles. It turns out lots of them desperately want help, but because it's so hard to talk about their situation it's almost impossible for them to find it. Reporter Luke Malone spent a year and a half talking to people in this situation, and he has this story about one of them.

I remember it being a pretty remarkable episode, and kind of heartbreaking. More insightful and constructive than the usual tone of moral outrage that the subject is treated with.

From reading your article, it seems that Twitter's policy changed to allow discussion of the subject with the caveat that pedophilia could not be promoted or glorified. That seems pretty reasonable, and isn't a dog-whistle for anything.

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#133

Post by javajosh »

stretchcat wrote: post #130
javajosh wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it sounds like he was forced to make actual child porn...because he shared nudes. And THAT was so unacceptable to society that he felt forced to pay the blackmail. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the other stuff I hear about, like teenagers getting charged with child porn for sending dick picks, or rape charges because 2 16-year olds had (consenting) sex. All of this is insane, and if not for the systemic insanit…

This is a ridiculous argument; blackmailers can and routinely do blackmail people over matters that are legal but embarrassing. This could have happened in any country. Similar things do occur in every country.

What counts as leverage depends on the time and place. Not too long ago you might have blackmailed someone for smoking weed back in the day. Or for being born out of wedlock. Or for being gay (well, that one is still potent in a lot of places). Kids being stupid is normal, and something tells me that if this happened in, e.g., Amsterdam, the kid would have gone straight to his parents and the blackmailer would have gone to jail.

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#134

Post by isochronous »

mcguire wrote: post #109
isochronous wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"People claim Twitter can't possibly moderate content at scale, except that Twitter makes money at that same scale." I'm sorry, but is that supposed to be a logical argument? Because it doesn't actually make any sense. Twitter is a platform that allows pretty much anyone with an internet connection to post content. There were, on average, 500 million tweets posted per day last year. So on one side you have the set of…

Under what rules is Twitter required to turn a reasonable profit? (What is a "reasonable" profit?)

Are you familiar with how publicly traded corporations work?

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#135

Post by isochronous »

briandear wrote: post #90
isochronous wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"People claim Twitter can't possibly moderate content at scale, except that Twitter makes money at that same scale." I'm sorry, but is that supposed to be a logical argument? Because it doesn't actually make any sense. Twitter is a platform that allows pretty much anyone with an internet connection to post content. There were, on average, 500 million tweets posted per day last year. So on one side you have the set of…

And yet the App Store hasn’t banned Twitter as they did Parler. If the media started reporting about pedophilic content on Twitter and that Twitter’s TOS explicitly allowed pedophiles to discuss their attractions, would the tech gatekeepers continue to allow Twitter? Because this stuff isn’t a secret, but Twitter hasn’t been banned which makes it pretty clear that the Parler and related bans were politically motivate…

That's because twitter actually has content moderation policies in place that they do their best to apply. They're obviously not perfect, but again, the whole reason the app store banned parler was that they had no workable moderation plan in place. Twitter does.

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#136

Post by jdxcode »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #50
jlkuester7 wrote: post #5

During all the recent debates regarding Parler, much was said about how Parler needed effective moderation like Twitter. This article is an important reminder that there is a lot more room for improvement in the moderation space and even companies that "do it right" are still making glaring mistakes. > We’ve reviewed the content, and didn’t find a violation of our policies, so no action will be taken at this time Thi…

Maybe it's the headline that is misleading you, or it's a symptom of our times. In any case: it should be blatantly obvious that the Twitter representative did not know or agree that the person in the video was a minor. The insinuation that it's Twitter policy to distribute child pornography is laughable. They have absolutely nothing to gain from it. As to liability: Section 230 is about exactly that situation: tryin…

230 does not protect against criminal liability: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200531/23325444617/hello...

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#137

Post by isochronous »

aerosmile wrote: post #53
isochronous wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's more than one explanation as to why "mainstream media" might not run a story. The NY Post isn't exactly known as a bastion of credible journalism. That's why they ran the Hunter Biden laptop story when everyone else passed because they couldn't verify it.

I agree with the overall sentiment of your post, but using the Hunter Biden laptop story as an example is an unfortunate choice. There's a popular view that politics had a lot to do with who picked up the story and who didn't, as opposed to just the strength of the case itself. I would recommend picking a less controversial example that highlights the shortcomings of NY Post's journalism, such as their reporting on t…

Yeah, there are a lot of "popular views" that are complete and utter nonsense

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#138

Post by selfishgene »

mansion7 wrote: post #127
trianglem wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is virtue signaling being a good person through your actions?

Not in my experience. That's why the distinction is made between "virtue signalling" and "actually being virtuous". It's more akin to showing up to a date wearing fancy clothes and driving an expensive, but borrowed car. Giving the symbols of wealth while possessing none, to fool an audience. Many of those I've seen signalling their virtue the loudest possess the least. The reason for the growth and awareness of the…

Think of what Jeffrey Epstein was obtaining from MIT president Rafael Reif in the form of a personally signed thank-you note in exchange for donations to the MIT Media Lab that started back in 2002 with co-founder and accused co-pedophile Marvin Minsky and which continued after his conviction on Florida state child rape charges in 2008 at a time when he was being investigated by the FBI for violations of the Mann Act during "Operation Leap Year."

Epstein's donations to science were a form of "virtue signaling" designed to help him evade prosecution on federal racketeering charges for the sex-trafficking of minors.

The guy had never earned as much as an undergraduate degree in pursuit of his two loves in life, namely "science and pussy," as he once put it to a professor whose work he was funding at the time.

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#139

Post by halfmatthalfcat »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #101
IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's the headline that is misleading you, or it's a symptom of our times. In any case: it should be blatantly obvious that the Twitter representative did not know or agree that the person in the video was a minor. The insinuation that it's Twitter policy to distribute child pornography is laughable. They have absolutely nothing to gain from it. As to liability: Section 230 is about exactly that situation: tryin…

> Because the alternative, where you either allow your platform to be flooded with swastikas and pornography or get sued for every single mistake you make, is unworkable. The current model isn't workable either. Social media networks and their ad-driven models have hollowed out our democracies by sowing outrage and division at every opportunity. If one believes "The Social Dilemma", these networks have a dial for tun…

This honestly just reads like paranoia. Social media isn’t sowing anything. It’s the people on the platform and the recommendation algorithms behind the platform.

edit: sew/sow

Re: Twitter sued for allegedly refusing to remove child porn

#140

Post by hnick »

mansion7 wrote: post #127
trianglem wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is virtue signaling being a good person through your actions?

Not in my experience. That's why the distinction is made between "virtue signalling" and "actually being virtuous". It's more akin to showing up to a date wearing fancy clothes and driving an expensive, but borrowed car. Giving the symbols of wealth while possessing none, to fool an audience. Many of those I've seen signalling their virtue the loudest possess the least. The reason for the growth and awareness of the…

I always remember that biblical passage about praying in private vs public. Such concerns about virtue signalling have been around for a long, long time.
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