Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#591

Post by acituan » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:40 AM UTC

petee wrote: post #485

acituan wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To think that your personal transactionality with Twitter, whether you pay for your SLAs or DMs etc, is what matters here is myopic at best. Because this soapbox found itself to be used at planet scale, 24/7 available and proven to be increasingly influential, even consequential, on our institutions that depend on healthy public discourse. Not only your analogy doesn’t follow, trying to apply market based normativiti…

'planet-scale soapbox' is an even better argument for them to be limited in what they allow... just because they found themselves popular doesn't suddenly make them a public utility

If it turns out monopolies of market-based high-throughput public communication channels put societies in a tailspin and render democratic processes highly vulnerable to information warfare, I don’t care whether we call it a public utility or a soapbox, it is a collective liability and we would ignore it at our own peril.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#592

Post by sebmellen » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:41 AM UTC

iaw wrote: post #509

alehul wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buzzfeed has been deemed left, which is a category beyond left-leaning, by an objective fact-checker [1]. As one example of why: > In June 2016, the left-leaning media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting found that in 100 BuzzFeed stories about Barack Obama, 65 were positive, 34 were neutral, and one was critical. [1] https://www.allsides.com/news-source/buzzfeed-media-bias

I don't think having more positive stories about a Democratic president makes a publication left-leaning, especially given that Obama is the only president in recent memory not actively involved in some scandalous behavior. This is coming from someone who did not agree with most of Obama's policy decisions but at least could respect his integrity.

How about when the ACLU "sued the Obama administration for detaining asylum seekers as intimidation tactic"? This was in 2014... Where was the uproar then?

See: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-sues-obama-administ...

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#593

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:42 AM UTC

fumar wrote: post #466

_qulr wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Twitter is an extremely powerful bit of technology that can basically make you believe anything. I don't believe this.

Can you prove algorithmic based information from a Twitter feed does not influence your behavior or opinions? Twitter itself as a organization is not making you believe anything specifically. However the information presented to you may influence your ideas and potentially your behavior.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#594

Post by dahfizz » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:44 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #520

Karunamon wrote: post #291

This was a shockingly dumb move. Whether or not you think these actions were politically motivated or made in good faith, it just poured liquid oxygen on the "reform section 230" fire you're seeing from both sides of the aisle - one using the censorship reason, the other using the disinformation reason. There's no way you don't block a newspaper, and the press secretary, and prevent anyone from even private messaging…

> it just poured liquid oxygen on the "reform section 230" fire you're seeing from both sides of the aisle - one using the censorship reason, the other using the disinformation reason The GOP is prioritizing § 230 reform. Given their likely fall from power and prioritization of the SCOTUS confirmation, as well as Democrat control of the House and its focus on stimulus bills, the short-term threat is minute. From an a…

I'm curious why you seem so confident in a widespread democratic victory when the republicans did so well in 2016?

EDIT: for those unaware, not only did the republican party take control of the House, Senate, and Presidency in 2016. They also made big gains in state elections. In fact, the republican party had a 'trifecta' (house, senate, and executive) in 25/50 states. It was a very significant shift in power: https://ballotpedia.org/State_legislative_elections,_2016

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#595

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:46 AM UTC

dahfizz wrote: post #578

ehsankia wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone explain why it even matters. I know HN isn't for politics but I don't understand why having dinner with your son's work friend is that big of a deal. Trump, who is the President (not VP), meets regularly with all sorts of people who spend money at his resort and other businesses and no one cares about that.

> Trump, who is the President (not VP), meets regularly with all sorts of people who spend money at his resort and other businesses and no one cares about that. I hear people (rightly) complain about this all the time. > Can someone explain why it even matters. I think it matters because Joe has denied any participation at all with his sons business dealings. The emails explicitly mention using influence, buying time…

> You'd also be openly admitting that Joe is no better.

Nah. Everyone lies from time to time, or bends the truth to make themselves look better. Frequency and magnitude are the important factors.

Also, Joe could have had dinner with this guy and still never talked with his son deeply about work. Joe having eaten with this dude would call into question his claim, but it wouldn't be proof he was telling a falsehood.

However, it sure does look a little questionable.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#596

Post by sneak » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:48 AM UTC

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…

Google already censors tons of inbound messages, rendering them invisible in your spam folder simply because you didn't pay the deliverability cartel (Mailgun et al) to ensure that you don't get spam-flagged, even if your message isn't spam.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#597

Post by TameAntelope » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:52 AM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #560

rat87 wrote: post #546

Good for Twitter for doing the right thing

Did they do the right thing? By engaging in the censorship of a large newspaper and at least one politician, the resulting streisand effect amplified the message far beyond what it would have gotten had they left it alone. If the goal was to suppress disinformation, they failed miserably.

I think the goal was to minimize the impact of news without adequate sourcing on the US presidential election, and I think that goal was achieved. The conversation is about censorship and truth, not really Hunter Biden and Burisma.

Admittedly, there may be a cost to pay for that, and it's possible it was a long-term bad decision, but their goal seems to have been met.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#598

Post by adamiscool8 » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:54 AM UTC

iaw wrote: post #500

0xy wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

There is one source of information, Rudy Giuliani. Someone with known ties to Russian intelligence claiming that his lawyer received a surprise hard drive from a computer repairman who has an utterly implausible explanation for his acquisition of said drive. Someone who has been known to spread false allegations and conspiracy theories including the claim that Joe Biden is suffering from dementia. The Biden campaign…

>The Biden campaign has records to that time indicating no such meeting took place.

This isn't true. They made the specific denial that according to his official schedules from the time, the meeting never happened. And then later quietly also said they "would not rule out the possibility that the former VP had some kind of informal interaction with Pozharskyi, which wouldn’t appear on Biden’s official schedule". [0]

[0] https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/14/biden-campaign-lash...

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#599

Post by whatever1 » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:55 AM UTC

Whatever it takes to get rid of a tyrant. The guy has repeatedly shown that he has no appreciation for the institutions, the unity of the nation, democracy or the election process itself. He will do whatever he can to stay in power. We should make sure he does not succeed.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#600

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:55 AM UTC

partiallypro wrote: post #475

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.

[deleted]