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That was the impression I was getting. They were trying to make the point that these insular platforms are something conservative Republicans are cooking up on

That was the impression I was getting. They were trying to make the point that these insular platforms are something conservative Republicans are cooking up on their own, but the behavior of the other major social networks attempting to insulate their platforms first and foremost is what is creating these conditions across the board for everyone. Action, reaction. Private platforms, newsgroups, bbses, and forums are nothing new for the internet, I wouldn't even know if I would call these apps social networks in the sense of a wide reach like Twitter and Facebook have, but it shouldn't be surprising that if you deplatform a group of people and/or make their political views against the terms of service, that they'll go somewhere else, and if the other place they go to happens to be an echo chamber of political thought built from the ashes of actions committed by other social networks with a perceived political bent, it shouldn't be surprising that the political activism gets ramped way up as a result. In my opinion, and this goes for both groups, not exposing yourself daily to conflicting opinions and different solutions to problems is intellectually damaging, and I firmly believe how most major social media companies are handling discourse in our country is extremely short sighted and damaging for real problem solving and conversations going forward. The first amendment and free expression is supposed to be an ugly, gnashing, frothy thing full of intellectual guts and blood. Bad ideas and bullshit solutions should get their guts ripped out in spirited debate, and we aren't doing that anymore. From my perspective, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, et al are close minded companies ran by intellectually weak and close minded people with a myopic world view and it's going to fracture things further, not help it.

funkythings 8y ago
We can never reach the point of spirited debate, when any opinion that goes against popular opinion is immediately labelled as "hate speech", "bigoted" or "ignorance". Good point
mcphage 8y ago
> From my perspective, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, et al are close minded companies ran by intellectually weak and close minded people with a myopic world view and it's going to fracture things further, not help it. I get that you don’t like the Democrats, but if you can’t distinguish between the GOP and conspiracy peddlers like Alex Jones, then I think you hate your own party more than the Democrats do.
- smsm42 8y ago
  The problem is not what I can and cannot distinguish. The problem is that the Big Tech companies want to make that decision for me. I despise Alex Jones and don't want to read him, but I want to make that decision by myself and not trust Facebook to take it for me.
  - mcphage 8y ago
    > I want to make that decision by myself and not trust Facebook to take it for me And what’s stopping you from doing that? See, really what you want isn’t Facebook from making the decision for you, since they can’t. Alex Jones has his own show, and FB has no interest or ability in changing that. What you want is to make that decision for Facebook, and not let Facebook make it for themselves.
    - smsm42 8y ago
      > And what’s stopping you from doing that? If Big Tech colludes to deplatform Jones, then it's no longer my decision. > What you want is to make that decision for Facebook, and not let Facebook make it for themselves. I can't make decision for Facebook, I don't have that power. I can't force Facebook to do anything. Facebook, on the other hand, has the power to deplatform Jones and force me to not be able to see his content via Facebook, discuss his content with my Facebook contacts, force me off the platform for supporting Jones, etc. etc. Of course, they don't have influence beyond facebook platform, but in collusion with Google, Twitter, DNS providers, certificate providers, cloud service providers, etc. (virtually all those have been participating in deplatforming before) - they wield immense powers, so "but you can build your own Internet, nobody prevents you from doing that" is not really a good suggestion. Even then, that's exactly what the subjects of the article is doing - and they are being mocked for it, too.
- funkythings 8y ago
  Why do you assume he's a Republican? He didn't even mention Democrats. You don't have to be a Republican to see that many people on social media and in social media companies are close minded. Jones was just the start. Why shouldn't conspiracy theorists have the right to use social media? What's next? Can they have a back account? Credit card? Just a month later, we had a huge purge on Facebook and Twitter, targeting mostly left wingers, libertarians and alternative news sites. Sure, some of these are wacky people, but some provided honest content from a different, anti-government viewpoint, like Dan Dicks from Press For Truth for example. Why shouldn't those voices be heard? https://uk.pcmag.com/facebook/117908/news/facebook-purges-800-accounts-pages-for-political-spamming https://uk.pcmag.com/facebook/117908/news/facebook-purges-80... https://www.rt.com/usa/441140-facebook-purge-victims-speak/ https://www.rt.com/usa/441140-facebook-purge-victims-speak/ We should be careful cheering social media giants just banning people. It will backfire

funkythings 8y ago

We can never reach the point of spirited debate, when any opinion that goes against popular opinion is immediately labelled as "hate speech", "bigoted" or "ignorance". Good point

mcphage 8y ago

> From my perspective, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, et al are close minded companies ran by intellectually weak and close minded people with a myopic world view and it's going to fracture things further, not help it. I get that you don’t like the Democrats, but if you can’t distinguish between the GOP and conspiracy peddlers like Alex Jones, then I think you hate your own party more than the Democrats do.

smsm42 8y ago
The problem is not what I can and cannot distinguish. The problem is that the Big Tech companies want to make that decision for me. I despise Alex Jones and don't want to read him, but I want to make that decision by myself and not trust Facebook to take it for me.
- mcphage 8y ago
  > I want to make that decision by myself and not trust Facebook to take it for me And what’s stopping you from doing that? See, really what you want isn’t Facebook from making the decision for you, since they can’t. Alex Jones has his own show, and FB has no interest or ability in changing that. What you want is to make that decision for Facebook, and not let Facebook make it for themselves.
  - smsm42 8y ago
    > And what’s stopping you from doing that? If Big Tech colludes to deplatform Jones, then it's no longer my decision. > What you want is to make that decision for Facebook, and not let Facebook make it for themselves. I can't make decision for Facebook, I don't have that power. I can't force Facebook to do anything. Facebook, on the other hand, has the power to deplatform Jones and force me to not be able to see his content via Facebook, discuss his content with my Facebook contacts, force me off the platform for supporting Jones, etc. etc. Of course, they don't have influence beyond facebook platform, but in collusion with Google, Twitter, DNS providers, certificate providers, cloud service providers, etc. (virtually all those have been participating in deplatforming before) - they wield immense powers, so "but you can build your own Internet, nobody prevents you from doing that" is not really a good suggestion. Even then, that's exactly what the subjects of the article is doing - and they are being mocked for it, too.
funkythings 8y ago
Why do you assume he's a Republican? He didn't even mention Democrats. You don't have to be a Republican to see that many people on social media and in social media companies are close minded. Jones was just the start. Why shouldn't conspiracy theorists have the right to use social media? What's next? Can they have a back account? Credit card? Just a month later, we had a huge purge on Facebook and Twitter, targeting mostly left wingers, libertarians and alternative news sites. Sure, some of these are wacky people, but some provided honest content from a different, anti-government viewpoint, like Dan Dicks from Press For Truth for example. Why shouldn't those voices be heard? https://uk.pcmag.com/facebook/117908/news/facebook-purges-800-accounts-pages-for-political-spamming https://uk.pcmag.com/facebook/117908/news/facebook-purges-80... https://www.rt.com/usa/441140-facebook-purge-victims-speak/ https://www.rt.com/usa/441140-facebook-purge-victims-speak/ We should be careful cheering social media giants just banning people. It will backfire