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I'm genuinely curious what the republicans want here. I get that they're mad because they think big tech is out to get them. And I don't even expect a policy pr

by drewrv 6y ago

I'm genuinely curious what the republicans want here. I get that they're mad because they think big tech is out to get them. And I don't even expect a policy proposal or bill at this stage. But is there even a paper from a think tank, or a right-wing law professor, who has put forward a coherent framework for how to regulate social media? My understand is that if you repeal section 230, social media sites would either have to be completely unmoderated (like 4chan) or really heavily moderated (as they'd be liable for everything people post). Is that their goal here? Or if they want to replace 230, what would they replace it with?

Covzire 6y ago
>> because they (republicans) think big tech is out to get them. I'm genuinely curious how someone could follow the news in a basic way and still think it's just some conspiracy. It's been beyond proven through leaks, deplatforming and whistleblowers that big tech is trying desperately to get Democrats elected.
- drewrv 6y ago
  Republicans have said the same thing about Hollywood, academics, journalists, and scientists. And they've cherry picked stories to "prove" it with those groups too.
  - insickness 6y ago
    It's a proven fact that Hollywood, academics and journalists all lean to the left. No need to cherry pick stories.
    - drewrv 6y ago
      Lean to the left compared to what? I don't think there's an abstract platonic "center", rather the center is defined by the major institutions in a society. These institutions probably lean left of our national politics, but our national political system was intentionally designed to give disproportionate power to rural, low population areas.
      - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
        I think the center is defined by the society, not by the major institutions. And therefore it is perfectly reasonable to say that Hollywood, academics, and journalists all lean left.
insickness 6y ago
230 is a law, not part of the constitution. It could be rewritten, for example, to say that if you want to claim protections under 230, you need to be clear about what your rules are and those rules must be evenly enforced. As it stands, big tech is hiding behind enforcement of their rules, but we don't know what the rules are and seemingly everyone has broken them. But they get to decide when those rules are enforced.
neuland 6y ago
The republicans want Twitter, Facebook, and Google to stop censoring (incl. down-ranking, labeling, etc.) mainstream right wing views. If they don't act more neutrally, the GOP will attempt force social media to behave as a common carrier, despite the implications that has for spam, real harassment, and so-called harassment, such as religious people tweeting their sincerely held views. This issue really boils down to how you view social media's monopoly status. Are they a monopoly or not? In republican's eyes, network effects make these companies a natural monopoly. Others think that's wrong because other sites are one click away. And, because Facebook displaced myspace, reddit displaced digg, etc.

by drewrv 6y ago

Covzire 6y ago

>> because they (republicans) think big tech is out to get them. I'm genuinely curious how someone could follow the news in a basic way and still think it's just some conspiracy. It's been beyond proven through leaks, deplatforming and whistleblowers that big tech is trying desperately to get Democrats elected.

drewrv 6y ago
Republicans have said the same thing about Hollywood, academics, journalists, and scientists. And they've cherry picked stories to "prove" it with those groups too.
- insickness 6y ago
  It's a proven fact that Hollywood, academics and journalists all lean to the left. No need to cherry pick stories.
  - drewrv 6y ago
    Lean to the left compared to what? I don't think there's an abstract platonic "center", rather the center is defined by the major institutions in a society. These institutions probably lean left of our national politics, but our national political system was intentionally designed to give disproportionate power to rural, low population areas.
    - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
      I think the center is defined by the society, not by the major institutions. And therefore it is perfectly reasonable to say that Hollywood, academics, and journalists all lean left.

insickness 6y ago

230 is a law, not part of the constitution. It could be rewritten, for example, to say that if you want to claim protections under 230, you need to be clear about what your rules are and those rules must be evenly enforced. As it stands, big tech is hiding behind enforcement of their rules, but we don't know what the rules are and seemingly everyone has broken them. But they get to decide when those rules are enforced.

neuland 6y ago

The republicans want Twitter, Facebook, and Google to stop censoring (incl. down-ranking, labeling, etc.) mainstream right wing views. If they don't act more neutrally, the GOP will attempt force social media to behave as a common carrier, despite the implications that has for spam, real harassment, and so-called harassment, such as religious people tweeting their sincerely held views. This issue really boils down to how you view social media's monopoly status. Are they a monopoly or not? In republican's eyes, network effects make these companies a natural monopoly. Others think that's wrong because other sites are one click away. And, because Facebook displaced myspace, reddit displaced digg, etc.