4 ms·

I hear about the supposed selective targeting of conservatives all the time, but don't really see any evidence for it. Every well known conservative has a huge

I hear about the supposed selective targeting of conservatives all the time, but don't really see any evidence for it. Every well known conservative has a huge following on Twitter or YouTube. People sometimes point to Alex Jones as an example but he was clearly banned for smearing the parents of murdered Newtown children. I'm not saying that big tech doesn't lean left, but I don't see evidence that they target people just for being conservative.

chrisco255 6y ago
Yeah, they fact check or block obvious parody tweets that are pro-conservative like the "racist baby" parody tweet a few weeks ago. They arbitrarily inject warning labels on Trump tweets while ignoring anti-cop tweets calling for violence and destruction (not just this year, going back to 2016 even [1]). The head of Twitter's Head of Site Integrity had this to say about red states: “I’m just saying,” he tweeted in November 2016, “we fly over those states that voted for a racist tangerine for a reason.” It doesn't just lean left. It actively hates, demeans and silences the right. [1] https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/737721?section=Headline&keywords=Anti-Police-Tweets-Surge-Twitter&year=2016&month=07&date=08&id=737721 https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/737721?section=Hea...
- harryh 6y ago
  arbitrarily inject warning labels on Trump tweets while ignoring anti-cop tweets calling for violence and destruction It's not arbitrary for twitter to impose a higher level of scrutiny on @realDonaldTrump (~83M followers) than on accounts from non-famous people with a very small number of followers. It actively hates, demeans and silences the right. Trump: 83 million followers McConnell: 7.1 million Ted Cruz: 3.7 million Ben Shapiro: 2.8 million Tucker Carlson: 3.6 million @GOP: 2.4 million This is what silencing looks like?
  - chrisco255 6y ago
    Excuse me, if I build an email newsletter list with 83 million subscribers there's no email fact checking injection ministry of truth at the IMAP layer of the protocol. If 83 million people choose to follow Trump, then Twitter really has no arbitrary say. They really are breaking their social contract and section 230 protection and they're becoming an editorial force with the power to shape public opinion as they exercise that. Just as it would be a step too far for SMS providers to inject their opinion into my private text messages, it is a step too far for Twitter to inject their opinion and arbitrarily target conservatives. They deserve all the hell they are going to get for this approach. I fully support breaking them up or suing them out of existence. Freedom of speech is too damn important for a handful of power-hungry silicon valley Inquisitors to control.
    - harryh 6y ago
      if I build an email newsletter list with 83 million subscribers Yes, if Trump builds his own newsletter he is free to do what he wants. But when he's posting on someone else's platform, he's subject to their rules. Welcome to how the world works! They really are breaking...section 230 protection This off repeated talking point is wrong as a matter of law. There's a reason that all kinds of people have made this claim but never actually initiated any legal proceedings. They know they don't have a legal leg to stand on. You might want to read this explainer (from a conservative lawyer) explaining how this law actually works: https://thedispatch.com/p/section-230-donald-trump-vs-twitter https://thedispatch.com/p/section-230-donald-trump-vs-twitte... it would be a step too far for SMS providers to inject their opinion into my private text messages Tweets aren't private communication. It's a broadcast medium subject to far different rules. Freedom of speech is too damn important for a handful of power-hungry silicon valley Inquisitors to control. Freedom of speech isn't under attack. Trump can say whatever he wants. He has one of the most powerful (figurative) megaphones in the world. A couple of small editorial comments on a single website, even a popular one, will not meaningfully reduce his (or anyone else's) ability to have their say. You say that Twitter shouldn't be able to express its own editorial opinion. It's actually that point of view that attacks free speech.
- root_axis 6y ago
  Trump is an extremely high profile rule breaker, and he has been given a lot of slack on twitter up until very recently. Making disparaging remarks about Trump voters is extremely unprofessional but it isn't evidence of selectively targeting conservatives on the platform. The idea that these companies "actively silence the right" is simply false; there is an endless sea of conservatives all over twitter and every other big platform. Ironically, on the platforms that conservatives control liberals aren't present or welcomed and they are openly ridiculed with extreme ferocity and have been for decades.
zo1 6y ago
The debate and acceptable forms of discussion are so far "left" these days that it's hard to see it and point to concrete examples of it. E.g. look at /r/politics (or most popular default sub-reddits) on Reddit. It's ridiculously anti-conservative and anti-Trump, yet it's being portrayed as impartial and just "politics", when in fact it's a huge pro-left section of Reddit that is unfairly given front-page preference and backing. No right-leaning sub gets that, and in fact gets the opposite treatment such as /r/the_donald. One could say that the left-leaning individuals and groups are gaming the system and what we're seeing is a consequence of that.

chrisco255 6y ago

Yeah, they fact check or block obvious parody tweets that are pro-conservative like the "racist baby" parody tweet a few weeks ago. They arbitrarily inject warning labels on Trump tweets while ignoring anti-cop tweets calling for violence and destruction (not just this year, going back to 2016 even [1]). The head of Twitter's Head of Site Integrity had this to say about red states: “I’m just saying,” he tweeted in November 2016, “we fly over those states that voted for a racist tangerine for a reason.” It doesn't just lean left. It actively hates, demeans and silences the right. [1] https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/737721?section=Headline&keywords=Anti-Police-Tweets-Surge-Twitter&year=2016&month=07&date=08&id=737721 https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/737721?section=Hea...

harryh 6y ago
arbitrarily inject warning labels on Trump tweets while ignoring anti-cop tweets calling for violence and destruction It's not arbitrary for twitter to impose a higher level of scrutiny on @realDonaldTrump (~83M followers) than on accounts from non-famous people with a very small number of followers. It actively hates, demeans and silences the right. Trump: 83 million followers McConnell: 7.1 million Ted Cruz: 3.7 million Ben Shapiro: 2.8 million Tucker Carlson: 3.6 million @GOP: 2.4 million This is what silencing looks like?
- chrisco255 6y ago
  Excuse me, if I build an email newsletter list with 83 million subscribers there's no email fact checking injection ministry of truth at the IMAP layer of the protocol. If 83 million people choose to follow Trump, then Twitter really has no arbitrary say. They really are breaking their social contract and section 230 protection and they're becoming an editorial force with the power to shape public opinion as they exercise that. Just as it would be a step too far for SMS providers to inject their opinion into my private text messages, it is a step too far for Twitter to inject their opinion and arbitrarily target conservatives. They deserve all the hell they are going to get for this approach. I fully support breaking them up or suing them out of existence. Freedom of speech is too damn important for a handful of power-hungry silicon valley Inquisitors to control.
  - harryh 6y ago
    if I build an email newsletter list with 83 million subscribers Yes, if Trump builds his own newsletter he is free to do what he wants. But when he's posting on someone else's platform, he's subject to their rules. Welcome to how the world works! They really are breaking...section 230 protection This off repeated talking point is wrong as a matter of law. There's a reason that all kinds of people have made this claim but never actually initiated any legal proceedings. They know they don't have a legal leg to stand on. You might want to read this explainer (from a conservative lawyer) explaining how this law actually works: https://thedispatch.com/p/section-230-donald-trump-vs-twitter https://thedispatch.com/p/section-230-donald-trump-vs-twitte... it would be a step too far for SMS providers to inject their opinion into my private text messages Tweets aren't private communication. It's a broadcast medium subject to far different rules. Freedom of speech is too damn important for a handful of power-hungry silicon valley Inquisitors to control. Freedom of speech isn't under attack. Trump can say whatever he wants. He has one of the most powerful (figurative) megaphones in the world. A couple of small editorial comments on a single website, even a popular one, will not meaningfully reduce his (or anyone else's) ability to have their say. You say that Twitter shouldn't be able to express its own editorial opinion. It's actually that point of view that attacks free speech.
root_axis 6y ago
Trump is an extremely high profile rule breaker, and he has been given a lot of slack on twitter up until very recently. Making disparaging remarks about Trump voters is extremely unprofessional but it isn't evidence of selectively targeting conservatives on the platform. The idea that these companies "actively silence the right" is simply false; there is an endless sea of conservatives all over twitter and every other big platform. Ironically, on the platforms that conservatives control liberals aren't present or welcomed and they are openly ridiculed with extreme ferocity and have been for decades.

zo1 6y ago

The debate and acceptable forms of discussion are so far "left" these days that it's hard to see it and point to concrete examples of it. E.g. look at /r/politics (or most popular default sub-reddits) on Reddit. It's ridiculously anti-conservative and anti-Trump, yet it's being portrayed as impartial and just "politics", when in fact it's a huge pro-left section of Reddit that is unfairly given front-page preference and backing. No right-leaning sub gets that, and in fact gets the opposite treatment such as /r/the_donald. One could say that the left-leaning individuals and groups are gaming the system and what we're seeing is a consequence of that.