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Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

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Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#471

Post by didibus »

hirundo wrote: post #54

There's a recurring argument on social media censorship that goes: "you wouldn't want the telephone company censoring phone conversations would you?" And the response is along the lines: "these are hardly private conversations, any tweet can go viral and be seen by millions". This story breaks that mold in that it involves social media censoring private conversations via DM. If you think that's OK for Twitter on its…

Actually, that's a great idea, there should be a spam folder or something similar on facebook and twitter as well, and instead of blocking, it should just all go there. Then it be similar to Gmail and Phone Carrier. Users who would like to go check the spam themselves in case something that isn't spam made it there by accident could, and normal people who just don't want to see garbage posts at the cost of a few false positives would have a much better experience.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#472

Post by bosswipe »

option wrote: post #323
hirundo wrote: post #54

There's a recurring argument on social media censorship that goes: "you wouldn't want the telephone company censoring phone conversations would you?" And the response is along the lines: "these are hardly private conversations, any tweet can go viral and be seen by millions". This story breaks that mold in that it involves social media censoring private conversations via DM. If you think that's OK for Twitter on its…

exactly - most miss the point that biggest news here is Twitter censoring direct messages.

I think it is bigger news that Trump operatives are trying to inject misinformation into the last few weeks of the election. They have no respect for democracy.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#473

Post by Uehreka »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #302
spamizbad wrote: post #275

The interview with the repair shop owner is also reduces this story’s already dwindling credibility: https://www.thedailybeast.com/man-who-reportedly-gave-hunter...

IMO it's relevant that twitter is blocking the story due to their rules about releasing hacked material, not misinformation. If the hard drive is a hoax, I think it's important to have an open discussion to shine a light on it. Banning the article in a way that appears to validate its claims will only embolden claims of a conspiracy. I think it's also interesting that the "hacking" ban doesn't have an exemption for t…

I see your “sunlight is the best disinfectant” and raise you a “lies spread faster than the truth”. If you allow the article, the article goes viral, then the retraction a day later gets no attention (because it’s not as interesting) well then now a ton of people are gonna be walking around thinking “didn’t they get Biden’s son’s emails and catch him in a crime or something?”

There’s no cool cosmic justice here, where the Post loses readership because they publish lies or that politicians will be punished for promoting lies from sources they knew to be bad. There’s just this hazy miasma, where the Post is vaguely not credible but also not totally distrusted, and people forget which politician promoted which story a couple days later.

That means the best way to play the game isn’t to research the truth but to drum up the most fantastical lies you can. That game has nothing but bad outcomes for humanity in the long term, and I don’t blame the platforms for trying extremely flawed approaches to prevent it.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#474

Post by srtjstjsj »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #356
Rebelgecko wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO it's relevant that twitter is blocking the story due to their rules about releasing hacked material, not misinformation. If the hard drive is a hoax, I think it's important to have an open discussion to shine a light on it. Banning the article in a way that appears to validate its claims will only embolden claims of a conspiracy. I think it's also interesting that the "hacking" ban doesn't have an exemption for t…

Are you just speculating, or is there actual proof that the article is fake? Twitter seems to think it contains at least some authentic material that was obtained illicitly. The FBI has confirmed the authenticity of subpoenas in the past and I'm confident that they'd be able to do so before November. Determining if the pictures are photoshopped is trickier but could probably also be done relatively quickly Edit- I hi…

The supposed leaker has contradicted his own claims about the material, has refused to release evidence (like cryptographic signatures) that might prove whether the emails actually passed through email servers, and he is a zealous Trump booster, (supposedly) hid the information from the public for a year in order to maximize campaigns impact instead of sharing it immediately upon discovery, and none of the Republican Senators not Republican DOJ, who supposedly had this material for a year already, have mentioned its existence, despite having recently published reports investigating this exact issue.

The purported facts beggar belief -- that an extremely famous person took his laptop, full of extremely damaging material, to a repair shop and then simply forgot about it. That a Mac repair shop owner violated all ethical standards to spy on a customer laptop. That after stealing the customer's laptop and data and finding supposedly treasonous data on it, he gave it to Trump's campaign team instead of the FBI.

There's no evidence that it's true and substantial evidence that it's false.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#475

Post by partiallypro »

One might even argue that Facebook/Twitter are doing this explicitly to ensure a party is put in power that won't try to reform them in any way. Their actions show it, and their political donations show it. That's my putting on the tin foil, but I think you could make such an argument. We always talk about Big Oil, etc being friends to Republicans, but often ignore Big Tech's close ties to Democrats.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#476

Post by bosswipe »

jimmydorry wrote: post #411

Absolutely agree, but I don't think this is the tipping point yet. An important line was crossed, but it will probably take a bit more before there is enough political capital to do something. On the other hand, if the party benefiting from this move gets into power, that might be enough to stop any change from happening.

What happens if the party that is attacking our democracy by spreading disinformation in the last few weeks of the election gets into power?

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#477

Post by rtlfe »

dimitrios1 wrote: post #454
rtlfe wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that funny or surprising? Every source that mentions political leaning of news media says they're right wing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Post https://www.allsides.com/news-source/new-york-post https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-post/

Is all of the right wing conservative? Is all of the left progressive? (turns out human beings don't fit neatly into these nice little categories)

> Is all of the right wing conservative?

Yes. That's literally the definition: "the conservative or reactionary section of a political party or system."

https://www.google.com/search?q=define+right+wing

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#478

Post by nsonha »

didibus wrote: post #471
hirundo wrote: post #54

There's a recurring argument on social media censorship that goes: "you wouldn't want the telephone company censoring phone conversations would you?" And the response is along the lines: "these are hardly private conversations, any tweet can go viral and be seen by millions". This story breaks that mold in that it involves social media censoring private conversations via DM. If you think that's OK for Twitter on its…

Actually, that's a great idea, there should be a spam folder or something similar on facebook and twitter as well, and instead of blocking, it should just all go there. Then it be similar to Gmail and Phone Carrier. Users who would like to go check the spam themselves in case something that isn't spam made it there by accident could, and normal people who just don't want to see garbage posts at the cost of a few fals…

there is a spam folder on Messenger, currently for people you don't know

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#479

Post by 0xy »

bosswipe wrote: post #476
jimmydorry wrote: post #411

Absolutely agree, but I don't think this is the tipping point yet. An important line was crossed, but it will probably take a bit more before there is enough political capital to do something. On the other hand, if the party benefiting from this move gets into power, that might be enough to stop any change from happening.

What happens if the party that is attacking our democracy by spreading disinformation in the last few weeks of the election gets into power?

Just curious why you say this is disinformation given the lack of proof. Is this your opinion or are you attacking the article based on the source?

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#480

Post by [deleted] »

sfkdjf9j3j wrote: post #393
dimitrios1 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet I don't recall anyone questioning Buzzfeed News when they dropped their bombshell story years back. I remember the defenders saying something along the lines of "If the news is newsworthy and constitutes journalism, then the publication it was produced in shouldn't matter" As HN audience mostly claim to be full of "independent thinkers" we should have no problem with this being published by the Post if it indeed…

Buzzfeed was previously famous for apolitical clickbait articles and quizzes, they practically invented the genre. New York Post, meanwhile, has been a tabloid-level spreader of pro-conservative and anti-progressive misinformation. It's smart to be skeptical of obviously politically motivated reporting from any outlet, but especially so when one has such a concerning track record.

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