Untitled topic

There are a billion places to rent a server these days. I don't feel bad for them at all and I do not see an issue here.

The only issue I see frankly is that it took people this fucking long to wake up and stop playing the Trump game.

> Parler can still buy some servers and host a website and use mobile web.

Does renting Linode VMs or Digital Ocean droplets count? Because they can cut Parler off just as easily as Amazon. Do they literally have to buy physical servers and host them on their own property somewhere? But then how do they get connected to the internet without going through some privately owned ISP that might cut them off? How do they register a domain without using a private corporation?

Basically, I'm asking how you can realistically "self host" without going through a private corporation that might decide to cut you off at some level in the stack?

Parler was given 24 hours to come up with and implement a moderation policy. They might as well have received no time at all.

Edit: it turns out Parler actually did have policies and moderation against violent content

And what use is having a moderation policy when it isn’t getting implemented anyways? KSA can still post on Twitter. Hardcore pornography will continue to exist on Reddit. Users will continue to insinuate violence on Facebook.

In this case Parler already had a policy in place that banned posts calling for violence / anything else the breaks US law as well as report buttons in place to report it (Reddit and Twitter use similar systems), but there has been enough gaslighting in the media that voted "yes" in this poll never even bothered to look at their ToS prior to voting.

You can post ANYTHING YOU WANT that's awful on Reddit or Twitter, then immediately screenshot it before it can be reported / cleaned by mods and scream "They allow hate speeeeech!" like they've done to Parler.

The companies made a choice based on their political views, not based on public safety / ToS violations and THAT is why have centralized duopolies on social media is so dangerous in the USA.

Unreservedly yes:

a) Parler is hardly being “kicked off the entire internet.” They are being severely ostracized and being denied service by major online companies. This would happen to me in my city’s various bars if I developed a reputation as a violent drunk - it is not a violation of any fundamental liberties. Regardless, the idea that Parler can’t exist without AWS is ridiculous - what is true is that maybe you shouldn’t use AWS to run a business that makes money hosting Nazi propaganda! In general people should be aware of the risks of offsourcing to the cloud... especially when your business model is odious and immoral.

b) Parler is not some innocent social media service that got overrun with Nazis. While its leadership is secretive, it is heavily financed and owned by major conservative activists, and a great deal of its marketing is towards disaffected far-right Twitter users.

c) Again and again and again: nobody has ever complained about YouTube banning pornography. It is not because we’re moral scolds who want to make porn illegal - it is because pornography is a shady business with shady people and YouTube has every right to not want to get involved with it. It would be a violation of the first amendment to force YouTube to host porn. Likewise it would be unconstitutional to force Twitter to restore access to @realDonaldTrump. The exact same applies to AWS or the Google App store and hosting Nazis on Parler.

This grotesque perversion of “free speech” being used to shield people from the consequences of hate speech is one of the more worrying ideological developments in recent years.