4 ms·

Facebook Completely Bans QAnon

17 points by cjlm 6y ago

systemvoltage 6y ago
This is a cancer equivalent in the society. The internet has brought us amazing things, but its starting to show its downsides as well. I've said this before - that before the Internet, we had to rally up support locally and physically in person. If we sound too crazy, it will not take off. The internet allows for small voices to reverberate and pick off individuals that resonate, enough momentum is built up through this and then it is unstoppable. I am a life long believer of free speech and free press. We need better ways to deal with these fringe theories and how they propel through society like cancer while still maintaining reasonable level of freedom of speech. At this point, QAnon is clearly unsubstantiated by any stretch of logic, reasoning and data. It needs to be killed hard with a strong dose of radiation. Don't feed the cancer. I am terrified of what else is brewing on the internet today.
- hindsightbias 6y ago
  I thought you were talking about FB. This is the natural course of any platform that can’t self moderate. Everyone gets a megaphone. FB is the norm, there might be rare outliers like HN. But Eternal September is always a semester away.
- raxxorrax 6y ago
  > We need better ways to deal with these fringe theories. "Don't feed the cancer" is correct in my opinion. There are countless news reports from established media about QAnon just from the last 1-2 days. Maybe the ban on its own would have worked but I doubt it. Curbing free speech is certainly a way to get even more of those even if many people don't like this opinion.
rvz 6y ago
Of course and as expected. Because at Facebook, 'banning' and 'hiding' these guys will definitely change their minds, Right. Instead they will manifest their conspiracies on other underground platforms like Mastodon or Gab. Meanwhile: https://gab.com/a/posts/104989941511561699 https://gab.com/a/posts/104989941511561699
- charliebrownau 6y ago
  Ever considered debating a person instead of claiming new ideas or different option is " racist " " Sexist " " Conspiracy theroy"
- jakelazaroff 6y ago
  The point isn’t to change their minds, it’s to prevent it from spreading. If it’s banned from Facebook, it’s much less likely that random people will encounter it and fall down a rabbit hole of radicalization.
  - systemvoltage 6y ago
    What's concerning is how people easily fall into these conspiracy theories. To me, it seems like vast swaths of people are uneducated, illinformed, and flatout unintelligent to think on their own feet and reject unsubstantiated claims. The fact that religion exists on a global scale is a testament to this.
  - rvz 6y ago
    Which creates the Streisand effect as a consequence of banning it. [0] They may have heard about it right there on the Verge or other sites reporting on the ban but some will still peek into that rabbit hole anyway. One can say that many if not all these social networks are already the enablers of radicalising people with users freely posting / re-posting extremist content from both sides of the political spectrum. The difference is whether if it "violates" their content policies if a user reports it and whether to 'take action' is at the platform owners discretion. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
    - jakelazaroff 6y ago
      It has been shown over [1] and over [2] and over [3] again that deplatforming is effective. Sure, there will likely be an initial wave of interest. But long term, this will hurt QAnon, not help it. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/11/study-finds-reddits-controversial-ban-of-its-most-toxic-subreddits-actually-worked/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/11/study-finds-reddits-contro... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/technology/alex-jones-infowars-bans-traffic.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/technology/alex-jones-inf... [3] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbp9d/do-social-media-bans-work https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbp9d/do-social-media-ba...
charliebrownau 6y ago
Suck shit Qanon Its a fucking Larp to keep the mass's stupid and wrongy thinking Trump and anyone is on their side Getting banned off Fakebook, Twatter, G00gle can be a really good thing, it will actually force a person to be exposed to different view points and new ideas

17 points by cjlm 6y ago

This is a cancer equivalent in the society. The internet has brought us amazing things, but its starting to show its downsides as well. I've said this before - that before the Internet, we had to rally up support locally and physically in person. If we sound too crazy, it will not take off. The internet allows for small voices to reverberate and pick off individuals that resonate, enough momentum is built up through this and then it is unstoppable. I am a life long believer of free speech and free press. We need better ways to deal with these fringe theories and how they propel through society like cancer while still maintaining reasonable level of freedom of speech. At this point, QAnon is clearly unsubstantiated by any stretch of logic, reasoning and data. It needs to be killed hard with a strong dose of radiation. Don't feed the cancer. I am terrified of what else is brewing on the internet today.

hindsightbias 6y ago
I thought you were talking about FB. This is the natural course of any platform that can’t self moderate. Everyone gets a megaphone. FB is the norm, there might be rare outliers like HN. But Eternal September is always a semester away.
raxxorrax 6y ago
> We need better ways to deal with these fringe theories. "Don't feed the cancer" is correct in my opinion. There are countless news reports from established media about QAnon just from the last 1-2 days. Maybe the ban on its own would have worked but I doubt it. Curbing free speech is certainly a way to get even more of those even if many people don't like this opinion.

rvz 6y ago

Of course and as expected. Because at Facebook, 'banning' and 'hiding' these guys will definitely change their minds, Right. Instead they will manifest their conspiracies on other underground platforms like Mastodon or Gab. Meanwhile: https://gab.com/a/posts/104989941511561699 https://gab.com/a/posts/104989941511561699

charliebrownau 6y ago
Ever considered debating a person instead of claiming new ideas or different option is " racist " " Sexist " " Conspiracy theroy"
jakelazaroff 6y ago
The point isn’t to change their minds, it’s to prevent it from spreading. If it’s banned from Facebook, it’s much less likely that random people will encounter it and fall down a rabbit hole of radicalization.
- systemvoltage 6y ago
  What's concerning is how people easily fall into these conspiracy theories. To me, it seems like vast swaths of people are uneducated, illinformed, and flatout unintelligent to think on their own feet and reject unsubstantiated claims. The fact that religion exists on a global scale is a testament to this.
- rvz 6y ago
  Which creates the Streisand effect as a consequence of banning it. [0] They may have heard about it right there on the Verge or other sites reporting on the ban but some will still peek into that rabbit hole anyway. One can say that many if not all these social networks are already the enablers of radicalising people with users freely posting / re-posting extremist content from both sides of the political spectrum. The difference is whether if it "violates" their content policies if a user reports it and whether to 'take action' is at the platform owners discretion. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
  - jakelazaroff 6y ago
    It has been shown over [1] and over [2] and over [3] again that deplatforming is effective. Sure, there will likely be an initial wave of interest. But long term, this will hurt QAnon, not help it. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/11/study-finds-reddits-controversial-ban-of-its-most-toxic-subreddits-actually-worked/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/11/study-finds-reddits-contro... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/technology/alex-jones-infowars-bans-traffic.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/technology/alex-jones-inf... [3] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbp9d/do-social-media-bans-work https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbp9d/do-social-media-ba...

charliebrownau 6y ago

Suck shit Qanon Its a fucking Larp to keep the mass's stupid and wrongy thinking Trump and anyone is on their side Getting banned off Fakebook, Twatter, G00gle can be a really good thing, it will actually force a person to be exposed to different view points and new ideas