3 ms·
Personally, I think it's a little frightening that the general public seems to have lost interest in the once-hot debate about whether or not platform providers
by slondr 8y ago
Personally, I think it's a little frightening that the general public seems to have lost interest in the once-hot debate about whether or not platform providers are responsible for the content on their platform. This article assumes that they just are, and thus (logically) assigns blame on amoral store platform developers for hosting immoral content. I fundamentally disagree with the ideas behind this assumption.
- jstarfish 8y agoI'd like to see the paradox of these platform providers claiming ownership over user-submitted content while simultaneously denying responsibility for said content challenged in court. If I scrape and republish Reddit content, they'll surely send me a cease-and-desist claiming I'm stealing "their" content. But suppose some of "their" content is legally obscene-- they've made it clear I'm not allowed to republish it because it's "theirs."
- apostacy 8y agoThere is no more debate. The platforms have chosen to take responsibility for what they host. Every major platform now actively polices their networks and removes content for flimsy political reasons. If Apple has the resources to remove an educational app about the American civil war from their store because it contains a picture of confederate flag, then they can certainly remove stuff like this. Platforms don't just get to be neutral carriers only when it is convenient for them. They don't get to be neutral about ISIS recruitment videos and child porn, but take a principled stand against political incorrectness and impolite speech. Even companies like Cloudflare have abdicated their neutrality, they now remove content for non technical and non legal reasons. They made their bed. I hope they get sued.