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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

#671

Post by _qulr »

rat87 wrote: post #615

Good for Twitter and good for Facebook for once not bowing down to conservative demands to allow them to spread untrue propaganda and conspiracies ( https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21357663/facebook-removed-... ) I'm very surprised so many people have a problem with this. I'm even more surprised people are demanding that forums and social media be stripped of the ability to moderate porn, spam, and vile personal at…

> I'm even more surprised people are demanding that forums and social media be stripped of the ability to moderate porn, spam, and vile personal attacks (ie not be able to moderate anything not illegal). Oh plus conspiracies and racism. This would likely turn most forums including HN into trash

Have you... seen Twitter? It's full of porn, spam, vile personal attacks, conspiracies, and racism. These things are mostly not moderated on Twitter.

Maybe Twitter claims to moderate them, but the reality does not reflect that at all. The main reason we see controversy over social media censorship is that it's extremely selective, haphazard, inconsistent, and often misdirected. There's no apparent general principles behind the individual decisions, though principles are often trotted out ex post facto when required for PR.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#672

Post by heartbreak »

blisseyGo wrote: post #653
moneybadger wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the Washington Post isn't releasing possibly faked or hacked emails about Breonna Taylor being shot in her sleep three weeks before an election in a blatant attempt to manufacture an October Surprise. Don't try and create false equivalency here.

> possibly faked or hacked emails What gives you the impression that this is the case? Hunter Biden's receipts from the computer repair shop are public for this too. I think bias might be clouding your judgement. EDIT: Because HN isn't even allowing me to reply to the comment by user heartbreak, I will just edit this here: He was NOT impeached for bribing Ukraine into fabricating exactly this sort of story. He was im…

Because the President was impeached nine months ago for bribing Ukraine into fabricating exactly this sort of story.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#673

Post by millstone »

frob wrote: post #66
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's different because it was written by a major American newspaper. Twitter should not be exercising editorial control over the news.

The New York Post is not a serious newspaper; it is a sensationalist tabloid. Sometimes the NYPost will report on real news, but I believe absolutely nothing they report until it is verified by the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, or other major broadcast outlet with actual journalistic standards.

Do not dismiss tabloid journalism. There's a long and happy history of Democrats being undone by lurid tabloids. Think Drudge Report breaking the (Bill) Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, or National Enquirer breaking the John Edwards affair, or NYPost breaking the Anthony Weiner sexting. This is tabloid journalism at its best.

The difference is those stories had supporting details, with the reporters attempting to follow up.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#674

Post by bgorman »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #635
syndacks wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everything can be reduced to a O or 1. Our imperfect species often draws a line in the sand and says you're either on this side or that. Sometimes that line is a fucked up line and we go to war over it. And other times, we accept it (yes there are other states), internalize it and move along collectively as consciously elevated apes with a new feather in our culture-cap. That you might not feel a sliver of moral…

One's man disinformation is another man's propaganda. What is the bigger issue at play? I honestly cannot see a bigger issue than a society wide decree on what can and cannot be uttered. To me, the notion of being able to say what I want to say without the reprisal of "globally dominant companies today"/government/we, is so ingrained that it is possible that I genuinely cannot see the forest for the trees. Great. And…

In two ways, America is fundentally different than most advanced economies.

1. We have essentially absolute free speech 2. We have the absolute right to gun ownership

If those values appeal to you, America is unrivaled.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#675

Post by woo49 »

libraryatnight wrote: post #666

Is this censorship? My understanding is they held it for review, that just seems responsible? Also it seems like the NY Post article is highly suspect, so again, this seems responsible. Especially given echoes of a previous email "bombshell" that proved to be absolutely nothing after the damage was done? I just don't know what people want, they want FB to stop misinformation, but not step on anyone's speech? Also I s…

a. They had the same information as everyone else, so what would they figure out in their ‘review’ that readers wouldn’t?

B. It’s really the double standard that is the problem here. If you do it do it for this then do it for everything else, including the myriad stories about Trump that are posted based on ‘rumors’, ‘leaks’, anonymous sources etc. Whether you like Trump or not should not matter if you are honest with yourself!

Funny thing is, this story was not ‘trending’ on twitter but the meta story (totally with no evidence) that this was the result of Russian hackers who gave the content to Rudy was trending! That tells you everything about why this is so inconsistent and thus either grossly incompetent or malicious.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#676

Post by afrojack123 »

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…

I agree. It was extremely dumb and obvious. TOO OBVIOUS. What are the politicians and social media tech companies trying to get out of section 230?

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#677

Post by rayiner »

Here is a further article on the event: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/10/twitter-and-facebooks...

> By the afternoon, Twitter had joined Facebook in suppressing the article, not only barring its users from sharing it with followers, but barring them sharing it through direct messages as well. It locked the accounts of White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, the Post, and many others for retweeting the story.

Twitter and Facebook decided to prove their critics right. Censorship was supposed to be for Russian bot-generated fake news. The New York Post may be a shitty tabloid, but it’s a real organization with a Manhattan office building and hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

As far as I can tell, it’s unclear whether the laptop the New York Post sourced it’s emails from really belonged to Hunter Biden. That’s an ordinary question of a news article’s credibility. It’s insane to make that the bar for sharing an article on social media.

Matt Taibbi has catalogued how many New York Times stories about Trump ultimately proved unfounded: https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-bombshell-memory-hole-d20 (paid). The Times is a hell of a lot more credible than the Post, but again, the fact that an article from a real source may prove to be wrong can’t be a justification for censoring it on social media.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#678

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #455

To be honest it sounds like a regular end of the election craziness. To all those people, who think this is somehow special and deserves special new set of rules, I can only point to 2016 ( Comey saga that also included Guliani ). It is not special. It is not new. It is still speech. It may be lies ( and I am sure we will find out soon enough ) and I get that a lot of people can be influenced. I get it. And it still…

The average person isn't aware of the very intentional acts to subtly shift their perspective and world view. You're aware of its presence, which to some degree, inoculates you from its effects. Whenever you see any news, you ask yourself: "What actors might be trying to influence me to believe this, and why?" and I assert the average person does not offer that level of introspection when consuming content.

The solution is media blackouts for a period of N days to weeks before elections. It's what other democracies do. But, during critical periods of time, we temporarily restrict speech. That's how you handle it. Is it a perfect solution, no, but it offers some benefit with not too much restriction.

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#679

Post by nknezek »

blisseyGo wrote: post #653
moneybadger wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the Washington Post isn't releasing possibly faked or hacked emails about Breonna Taylor being shot in her sleep three weeks before an election in a blatant attempt to manufacture an October Surprise. Don't try and create false equivalency here.

> possibly faked or hacked emails What gives you the impression that this is the case? Hunter Biden's receipts from the computer repair shop are public for this too. I think bias might be clouding your judgement. EDIT: Because HN isn't even allowing me to reply to the comment by user heartbreak, I will just edit this here: He was NOT impeached for bribing Ukraine into fabricating exactly this sort of story. He was im…

source?

Re: Facebook, Twitter block the NY Post from posting

#680

Post by [deleted] »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #663
Karunamon wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an angle I hadn't even considered, but I'm surprised Twitter didn't. SV social media companies, of all the organizations in the world , should understand the implications of a Streisanding. If they had just left it alone, maybe attached the standard "this might be false" disclaimer, it would likely have passed as yet another partisan thing , but now they've gone and infused it with a bunch of power it didn't h…

The safest bet is it changes nobody's opinion. If you're left leaning, you've drowned out Trump's repeatedly false statements --or become numb to them-- no October surprise will have an effect on you. If you're right leaning, this furthers your perspective that Clinton and Deep State are up to no good. Nobody comes across content like this without an existing world view to inspect it, and the lines have been drawn a…

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