5 ms·

A bit of both-sides-ism here. The poll shows that Republicans almost universally believe that these companies censor their viewpoint, despite the fact that thes

A bit of both-sides-ism here. The poll shows that Republicans almost universally believe that these companies censor their viewpoint, despite the fact that these companies have bent over backwards to accommodate those views and to give them platforms. Meanwhile only a small fraction of Democrats believe this is very likely, and they aren’t strongly sure about which side is benefiting from the supposed bias.

minikites 8y ago
There's also lots of evidence to the contrary: Twitter refuses to ban self-identified Nazis who incite violence but there are dozens of instances of people getting banned for saying mean insults to those same Nazis.
- ebikelaw 8y ago
  Yes that’s what I mean by bending over backwards. Twitter is actually a “safe space” for Nazis.
- praha14 8y ago
  Who’s an example?
- jtbayly 8y ago
  Making Nazis out to be just a more extreme form of the Republican viewpoint is hardly a good way to engage in discussion about a politically sensitive topic.
  - minikites 8y ago
    I didn't do that, it was just a similar example.
  - kebman 8y ago
    But Nazis have more in common with Democrats anyway :D :D :D :D banning guns, wanting mass regulation /trolol
    - dang 8y ago
      Please don't do this here.
  - pacerwpg 8y ago
    He did say 'self-identified Nazis'. He's talking about people who call themselves Nazis.
wolco 8y ago
In fairness they ban gun related content like gun ads and the leaders of the giants have personally come out in favor of liberal ideals.
- geofft 8y ago
  I think there's a pretty clear distinction between advertising and organic speech, and also a pretty clear distinction between wanting to restrict how other people use your platform and simply having views of your own.
  - wolco 8y ago
    Advertising is a form of speech. Restricting the platform is their right. But the issue is people believing they are being censored and by banning certain ads they reenforce that viewpoint.
    - s73v3r_ 8y ago
      Choosing who to associate with is also a form of speech.
  - trisimix 8y ago
    Somewhat unrelated. Advertisers dont want their to be a clear distinction anymore. Hell pretty soon the most effective marketing strategy wont be shameless plugs but offhanded ones. Ones that sneak in like oh hey yeah I was using x the other day and it helped me with y. Once gun manufactuers catch up it might look something like: popular social media user offhandedly mentions purchase of lgun, posts some pictures firing gun, learning gun safety, talks about how much fun they had. Itll be hard to censor and I wouldnt be shocked.
    - germinalphrase 8y ago
      This is already similar to how a lot of gun culture videos on YouTube operate. Go watch Hickhock45. Guy just shoots and chats about guns in a casual, mostly non-political manner. He’s really popular and the whole shebang is one big (indirect) advertisment for various firearms.
394549 8y ago
> The poll shows that Republicans almost universally believe that these companies censor their viewpoint, despite the fact that these companies have bent over backwards to accommodate those views and to give them platforms. However, that belief isn't totally without basis. Facebook fired its entire trending topics curation team [1], after allegations that its members suppressed conservative stories [2]. Even though Facebook denied that any ideological suppression took place, their actions in firing the team could be interpreted as confirming them, especially considering how badly their algorithm performed without human oversight afterwards. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-fires-trending-topics-team-algorithm https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-... [2] https://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006 https://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-sup...
trophycase 8y ago
> The poll shows that Republicans almost universally believe that these companies censor their viewpoint To me it looks like the polls say that they believe these companies censor content, and that these companies also lean left. Nothing about their viewpoints.

minikites 8y ago

There's also lots of evidence to the contrary: Twitter refuses to ban self-identified Nazis who incite violence but there are dozens of instances of people getting banned for saying mean insults to those same Nazis.

ebikelaw 8y ago
Yes that’s what I mean by bending over backwards. Twitter is actually a “safe space” for Nazis.
praha14 8y ago
Who’s an example?
jtbayly 8y ago
Making Nazis out to be just a more extreme form of the Republican viewpoint is hardly a good way to engage in discussion about a politically sensitive topic.
- minikites 8y ago
  I didn't do that, it was just a similar example.
- kebman 8y ago
  But Nazis have more in common with Democrats anyway :D :D :D :D banning guns, wanting mass regulation /trolol
  - dang 8y ago
    Please don't do this here.
- pacerwpg 8y ago
  He did say 'self-identified Nazis'. He's talking about people who call themselves Nazis.

wolco 8y ago

In fairness they ban gun related content like gun ads and the leaders of the giants have personally come out in favor of liberal ideals.

geofft 8y ago
I think there's a pretty clear distinction between advertising and organic speech, and also a pretty clear distinction between wanting to restrict how other people use your platform and simply having views of your own.
- wolco 8y ago
  Advertising is a form of speech. Restricting the platform is their right. But the issue is people believing they are being censored and by banning certain ads they reenforce that viewpoint.
  - s73v3r_ 8y ago
    Choosing who to associate with is also a form of speech.
- trisimix 8y ago
  Somewhat unrelated. Advertisers dont want their to be a clear distinction anymore. Hell pretty soon the most effective marketing strategy wont be shameless plugs but offhanded ones. Ones that sneak in like oh hey yeah I was using x the other day and it helped me with y. Once gun manufactuers catch up it might look something like: popular social media user offhandedly mentions purchase of lgun, posts some pictures firing gun, learning gun safety, talks about how much fun they had. Itll be hard to censor and I wouldnt be shocked.
  - germinalphrase 8y ago
    This is already similar to how a lot of gun culture videos on YouTube operate. Go watch Hickhock45. Guy just shoots and chats about guns in a casual, mostly non-political manner. He’s really popular and the whole shebang is one big (indirect) advertisment for various firearms.

394549 8y ago

> The poll shows that Republicans almost universally believe that these companies censor their viewpoint, despite the fact that these companies have bent over backwards to accommodate those views and to give them platforms. However, that belief isn't totally without basis. Facebook fired its entire trending topics curation team [1], after allegations that its members suppressed conservative stories [2]. Even though Facebook denied that any ideological suppression took place, their actions in firing the team could be interpreted as confirming them, especially considering how badly their algorithm performed without human oversight afterwards. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-fires-trending-topics-team-algorithm https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-... [2] https://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006 https://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-sup...

trophycase 8y ago

> The poll shows that Republicans almost universally believe that these companies censor their viewpoint To me it looks like the polls say that they believe these companies censor content, and that these companies also lean left. Nothing about their viewpoints.