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One Statistics Professor Was Just Banned by Google: Here Is His Story

53 points by ironic_ali 9y ago

baybal2 9y ago
It appears to be that he got filtered by the famed 'AI' terrorist filter. On a twitter page of his collaborator describing his opponents: "I don't understand English Middle Class English. What does "You are rude" mean? 1.You are saying the truth 2.Your truth bothers me 3.Can't find an argument against 4.You are rude" It was probably this and the fact that he touches on "race, 'aryans', antisemitism' in a very provocative manner and has Arabic name made him a sure target for an angry user operations team member who decided to reward him with Internet non-personhood
justadeveloper2 9y ago
This is why I just moved on to protonmail and am ditching Google as fast as I can after almost 20 years. I can't control what Google does, but I don't have to help them or be subject to their biases or censorsial behavior. The greatest good in the world is free exchange of ideas and it is not hard to spot stupid ideas (like racism, terrorism, etc.) and simply reject them. The whole Nazi thing seems like an excuse for Google to do what China has been having them do all along. Censorship is the tool of absolutists.
deleted 9y ago
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mywittyname 9y ago
Wait, so nobody knows why Google shut down his accounts? I think we need some digital tenancy laws. These companies need a buffer period before they can digitally "evict" people. If Google disabled my accounts, I'd be totally screwed in so many ways.
- namlem 9y ago
  Absolutely. Letting companies like Google shut down people's accounts unilaterally gives them far too much power. They should be legally required to provide notice and give you a chance to migrate your data.
- worldsnorkler 9y ago
  Move to the EU, here google at least need to inform you why they made a certain automatic decision that affects you. GDPR be with you !
- deleted 9y ago
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- deleted 9y ago
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guitarbill 9y ago
It seems odd that he keeps emphasising what a good person he is, like that will somehow help or even matters if your definition of good differs from who's deciding it. In any case, thinking of corporations (which are amoral) as a person is silly, although this is a heartbreaking way to learn this lesson.
- roceasta 9y ago
  But when it comes to being banned, deplatformed, accused of being in a 'hate group', labelled a Nazi, etc, the problem is the idea that expressing certain opinions indicates that you are a good person.
et2o 9y ago
My prior is that there is some piece of the story missing. It appears that Google did a manual review and stated he violated the ToS. However it is certainly possible Google just screwed up, and that alone is pretty scary.
- londons_explore 9y ago
  This is likely the case. Accounts can be banned in bulk, but the review and appeal process is fully manual. He must have done something very bad to not get reinstated. Normally only brand new gmail accounts clearly set up as spam senders are banned. Probably ran a bot army clicking ads or some kind of billing scam on the play store or Google cloud. It could also be he is on a US government 'do not do business with' list.
  - retrogradeorbit 9y ago
    "likely", "can be", "must have", "normally", "probably", "could also be". Do you have any information the rest of us don't? You should share it if you do. Otherwise I'll just assume you're making this all up.

53 points by ironic_ali 9y ago

It appears to be that he got filtered by the famed 'AI' terrorist filter. On a twitter page of his collaborator describing his opponents: "I don't understand English Middle Class English. What does "You are rude" mean? 1.You are saying the truth 2.Your truth bothers me 3.Can't find an argument against 4.You are rude" It was probably this and the fact that he touches on "race, 'aryans', antisemitism' in a very provocative manner and has Arabic name made him a sure target for an angry user operations team member who decided to reward him with Internet non-personhood

justadeveloper2 9y ago

This is why I just moved on to protonmail and am ditching Google as fast as I can after almost 20 years. I can't control what Google does, but I don't have to help them or be subject to their biases or censorsial behavior. The greatest good in the world is free exchange of ideas and it is not hard to spot stupid ideas (like racism, terrorism, etc.) and simply reject them. The whole Nazi thing seems like an excuse for Google to do what China has been having them do all along. Censorship is the tool of absolutists.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

mywittyname 9y ago

Wait, so nobody knows why Google shut down his accounts? I think we need some digital tenancy laws. These companies need a buffer period before they can digitally "evict" people. If Google disabled my accounts, I'd be totally screwed in so many ways.

namlem 9y ago
Absolutely. Letting companies like Google shut down people's accounts unilaterally gives them far too much power. They should be legally required to provide notice and give you a chance to migrate your data.
worldsnorkler 9y ago
Move to the EU, here google at least need to inform you why they made a certain automatic decision that affects you. GDPR be with you !
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

guitarbill 9y ago

It seems odd that he keeps emphasising what a good person he is, like that will somehow help or even matters if your definition of good differs from who's deciding it. In any case, thinking of corporations (which are amoral) as a person is silly, although this is a heartbreaking way to learn this lesson.

roceasta 9y ago
But when it comes to being banned, deplatformed, accused of being in a 'hate group', labelled a Nazi, etc, the problem is the idea that expressing certain opinions indicates that you are a good person.

et2o 9y ago

My prior is that there is some piece of the story missing. It appears that Google did a manual review and stated he violated the ToS. However it is certainly possible Google just screwed up, and that alone is pretty scary.

londons_explore 9y ago
This is likely the case. Accounts can be banned in bulk, but the review and appeal process is fully manual. He must have done something very bad to not get reinstated. Normally only brand new gmail accounts clearly set up as spam senders are banned. Probably ran a bot army clicking ads or some kind of billing scam on the play store or Google cloud. It could also be he is on a US government 'do not do business with' list.
- retrogradeorbit 9y ago
  "likely", "can be", "must have", "normally", "probably", "could also be". Do you have any information the rest of us don't? You should share it if you do. Otherwise I'll just assume you're making this all up.