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> no one is forcing anyone on to Twitter, it had no more sway or status than the Babylon Bee or any other media. That is probably the most untrue statement I'v

> no one is forcing anyone on to Twitter, it had no more sway or status than the Babylon Bee or any other media. That is probably the most untrue statement I've heard this week. Twitter the de facto standard way by which famous people and journalists speak out to their audience. As a general user, I have no alternative for the kind of news that is on Twitter. As a journalist/celebrity, there is no alternative to reach my audience directly. There is an immensely strong network effect. > I also don't agree, don't think Twitter is acting at all biased. I think they have very basic rules & have been very kind about trying to enforce them. Why then did they let people post about the fictional Russian collusion for 3 years? Investigations by federal agencies finally concluded that there was none. So why did Twitter allow that narrative to play out? Why did they let the leaked video of Trump saying random things in personal conversations be posted and shared? Why did Twitter let people post about fake and unproven allegations against Bret Kavanaugh? What was different?

rektide 6y ago
This is incredibly insightful commentary, and I think it confesses to what a lot of the people protesting these platforms are actually angry about. It's unfortunate that humanity is addicted to a couple pairs of supra-governmental private entities, that governments are less important than these private properties, but I don't think their massive massive world dominating size entitles governments to come meddle with their affairs & poke & prod & demand they become certain specific forms of free speech vehicles. It's up to the company to decide what kind of platform they want to be. And it's up to us to use these systems or not. This above statement works & holds, so long as it's only network effect & not technical barrier to generating our own speech systems. Which, thankfully, I feel like the internet readily supplies (at least for now!).

rektide 6y ago

This is incredibly insightful commentary, and I think it confesses to what a lot of the people protesting these platforms are actually angry about. It's unfortunate that humanity is addicted to a couple pairs of supra-governmental private entities, that governments are less important than these private properties, but I don't think their massive massive world dominating size entitles governments to come meddle with their affairs & poke & prod & demand they become certain specific forms of free speech vehicles. It's up to the company to decide what kind of platform they want to be. And it's up to us to use these systems or not. This above statement works & holds, so long as it's only network effect & not technical barrier to generating our own speech systems. Which, thankfully, I feel like the internet readily supplies (at least for now!).