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

Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

uk.reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 224 posts

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#21

Post by lki876 »

hetspookjee wrote: post #9
blumomo wrote: post #3

„... pressing ahead with government plans after he said his family was insulted online“ That’s how you frame your readers. The author doesn’t know whether there’s causal relation between the possible insult and the plans to control the social platforms. But this is how media tricks the readers in thinking so.

Is it? Isn't this plain reporting of the events in the sequence that they occured? It's all too often that the media frames things a certain way but I'm having difficulty agreeing with you here.

The "journalist" could have picked any two events. Picking these to make it seem there is causation without proof.

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#23

Post by learc83 »

lki876 wrote: post #21
hetspookjee wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? Isn't this plain reporting of the events in the sequence that they occured? It's all too often that the media frames things a certain way but I'm having difficulty agreeing with you here.

The "journalist" could have picked any two events. Picking these to make it seem there is causation without proof.

That's not what's happening here. There's as much proof as you can have without reading the mind of Erdogan. He had entire press conference where he referenced the attacks as justification for regulating social media.

"We experienced similar attacks in the past. The lack of monitoring on these platforms have a role in the rise of this sort of immoral behaviour. These platforms do not suit this country. We want these platforms to be banned, taken under control."

This also comes after arresting and detaining several social media users for tweeting the insults.

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#24

Post by briefcomment »

In a dictatorship, cracking down on social media is a no brainer. But I think social media undermines democracies as well.

Social media vastly amplifies loud minorities. Democracy assumes that the majority of people are reasonable, so majority rule will also be reasonable. Loud minorities undermine majority rule. Loud minorities have always existed, but social media is now amplifying them to the point of obscuring what the majority of the country actually wants. This is why we can have an election outcome that no one in the media predicted.

Add to that the fact that social media is highly game-able and scalable, and you have small groups of people working against the majority of the country.

Social media is also a prime playground for international enemies.

In that light, I'm moving away from the idea that all social media should be allowed, and seeing actions like this as something worth exploring. I hate imposing restrictions, but social media is a strange and unbelievably influential paradigm, which needs to be handled "like a weapon instead of some toy".

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#25

Post by hyko »

briefcomment wrote: post #24

In a dictatorship, cracking down on social media is a no brainer. But I think social media undermines democracies as well. Social media vastly amplifies loud minorities. Democracy assumes that the majority of people are reasonable, so majority rule will also be reasonable. Loud minorities undermine majority rule. Loud minorities have always existed, but social media is now amplifying them to the point of obscuring wh…

But Turkey is not a democracy?

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#26

Post by hetspookjee »

bluetomcat wrote: post #19
haunter wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing. Just like how Poland and Hungary are EU members and they are walking their own way not giving a f about anything, rewriting the constitutions and laws as they wish

Bulgaria is another notable outlier. Formal EU member, democracy by constitution, government officials relatively well respected in Brussels. Inside - autocratic regime with no division of powers, facade institutions serving the interest of the political oligarchy, no authentic political parties representing the interests of the wider population.

I can remember Slovakia not doing all too well either on these grounds but couldn't find any so perhaps I'm mistaken.

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#27

Post by [deleted] »

hyko wrote: post #25
briefcomment wrote: post #24

In a dictatorship, cracking down on social media is a no brainer. But I think social media undermines democracies as well. Social media vastly amplifies loud minorities. Democracy assumes that the majority of people are reasonable, so majority rule will also be reasonable. Loud minorities undermine majority rule. Loud minorities have always existed, but social media is now amplifying them to the point of obscuring wh…

But Turkey is not a democracy?

[deleted]

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#28

Post by bitcharmer »

lki876 wrote: post #17
haunter wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing. Just like how Poland and Hungary are EU members and they are walking their own way not giving a f about anything, rewriting the constitutions and laws as they wish

> Just like how Poland and Hungary are EU members and they are walking their own way not giving a f about anything, rewriting the constitutions and laws as they wish There are mechanisms in place to change constitutions and laws in all countries. The primary function of parliament is to legislate. In Poland, Hungary and the rest of the EU.

The problem (at least in Poland where I come from) is that the government/ruling party (PiS) are pushing laws that violate the constitution. The same party controls such bodies as consitution tribunal and the high court, as well as attorney general.

They can do whatever they want without having to touch the constitution. They just ignore it.

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#29

Post by bitcharmer »

lowdose wrote: post #14
bitcharmer wrote: post #6

I wonder what some mid- to long-term consequences of Turkey slipping into dictatorship will be for NATO as a whole. It's clear Turkey is drifting away from the values held by the alliance members. I'm so glad they haven't been accepted into the EU. That would be a disaster.

> I'm so glad they haven't been accepted into the EU. That would be a disaster. At that time though Turkey would have been a real welcome growth addition to the EU. 2005 +9% growth, the year the EU opened accession negotiations with Turkey. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union%E2%80%93Turke...

I don't think economy is the only factor we should be considering when assessing perspective members.

Re: Turkey determined to control social media platforms, Erdogan says

#30

Post by brnt »

hyko wrote: post #25
briefcomment wrote: post #24

In a dictatorship, cracking down on social media is a no brainer. But I think social media undermines democracies as well. Social media vastly amplifies loud minorities. Democracy assumes that the majority of people are reasonable, so majority rule will also be reasonable. Loud minorities undermine majority rule. Loud minorities have always existed, but social media is now amplifying them to the point of obscuring wh…

But Turkey is not a democracy?

https://freedomhouse.org/country/turkey/freedom-world/2020
Post reply on HN