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Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

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Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happened in Australia just weeks ago. Various pages belonging to the main Libertarian party ("Liberal Democratic Party") started getting shutdown[0] about a month before elections. [0] https://www.facebook.com/davidlimbrickldp/posts/209817440381...

Possibly because LibDem supporters tend to post obscenely racist/xenophobic/hateful things that often get flagged/reported.

No, they don’t. And that doesn’t justify shutting down the pages of three(!) state(!) parties with sitting parliament members weeks before elections.

If Facebook has issues with commenters, then those commenters should be punished.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#52
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be unconstitutional wouldn't it?

No. The constitution generally doesn’t restrict a private company like FB from imposing restrictions on speech

The content was"American companies also are required to prevent them spreading information." Meaning that the government requires the companies, which would be unconstitutional.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#54

Their opinion is that it spread propaganda. Everything written is propaganda depending on what side of the opinion you were on. Although I don’t like it, what is happening today is incredibly fascinating, watching it unfold since I have been using computers since 1990.

If everything is propaganda then the question is why are we selectively choosing which propaganda to show? In that case, the real propaganda is the omission of certain propaganda, or for another choice of words the 'perspective' of another group.

We are being lied to on a regular basis, this has been going on for decades and the rise of right-wing and extreme right-wing parties reflects this.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is such a lazy, sheepish argument. we all know what is happening. when your private internet provider starts to shut you down for your stupid ideas, or your private bank denies you service lets see how you feel then. and to act like the government does not already regulate the hell out of private business is just a foolish position.

A single social media website is not at all comparable to an ISP or a bank though. Facebook is a wholly unimportant distraction.

There's sooo many banks though. There's probably 3 right next to each other right now on Main St. North Bumble Fuck. Less ISPs sure, but if Comcast is throttling your Netflix, you could probably nab cellular internet, or satellite, or gasp dial up. Sure those options suck, but so does hosting your businesses social media presence on Myspace, or your neighbors kid's basement hosted phpBB forum.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#56

Welcome to Facebook Co. Where a clique of Silicon Valley exec yuppies now decide what is right and what is wrong for us to see. It's a very slippery slope. Cannot wait for the next elections where any candidates with politically "wrong" ideas will see their pages silently being discarded or randomly hidden from timelines without warnings.

They are free to exclude whatever they like, they're a private company and not beholden to what you think they should be doing. If they do the wrong thing they will go on the trash-heap of bad ideas in history, so far they're doing okay as far as being a business goes.

Why does this tired argument never seem to come up here when Facebook is doing Bad Privacy Things? They are still a private company in that case, so it seems to equally apply (especially the trash-heap part). But I don't ever see it being made in those threads. Weird.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#57
This is the risk you take when you are a sharecropper on someone else's land. Probably won't be long until FB takes an Adblock Plus/Yelp gatekeeper approach where they'll ban something, and then allow them back if they purchase a certain amount of advertising.

They won't do it in the West as it would be picked up on the news, but bad actors in places like India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (those are the ones I know of) would pay to have that "feature".

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are free to exclude whatever they like, they're a private company and not beholden to what you think they should be doing. If they do the wrong thing they will go on the trash-heap of bad ideas in history, so far they're doing okay as far as being a business goes.

They should be seen as a public utility. I dislike Facebook but for a lot of people it became part of their life and some information is now only available on Facebook. As a public utility they should be regulated on what they are allow to restrict from their users.

> a lot of people it became part of their life

So what? World of Warcraft became a part of a lot of people's lives, does that mean WoW should be a utility?

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happened in Australia just weeks ago. Various pages belonging to the main Libertarian party ("Liberal Democratic Party") started getting shutdown[0] about a month before elections. [0] https://www.facebook.com/davidlimbrickldp/posts/209817440381...

Possibly because LibDem supporters tend to post obscenely racist/xenophobic/hateful things that often get flagged/reported.

Racism is becoming the catch-it-all excuse that you can throw at pretty much anything to justify why you should take it down.
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