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I’m not a conservative but I support free speech. I installed it but the recommended people were Fox News pundits and politicians I didn’t care about. I like th

I’m not a conservative but I support free speech. I installed it but the recommended people were Fox News pundits and politicians I didn’t care about. I like the idea of enabling users to hide speech they don’t like rather than a Speech Czar that determines what we are allowed to hear. But it will take some time for something like this to get a critical mass of users to make it work.

echelon 6y ago
Plenty of people on Reddit and TikTok are getting banned on Parler for posting liberal ideas [1]. It's not free speech. It's one-sided. [1] https://www.newsweek.com/parler-ted-cruz-approved-free-speech-app-already-banning-users-1514358 https://www.newsweek.com/parler-ted-cruz-approved-free-speec... Edit: this post is getting downvoted like crazy. People have strong opinions about this.
- seibelj 6y ago
  Do you have any evidence of this? From the article that seems like it violates their entire purpose for existing.
  - echelon 6y ago
    Updated my post with a link. I'll find more.
    - seibelj 6y ago
      Wow that’s dumb if true, why even bother!?
      - klyrs 6y ago
        Indeed, indeed. If it's not about the principled and unflinching protection of free speech, then what is it about? I've said it about twitter and I'll say it about parler. Freedom of association is also a first amendment right. Speech is being exercised by the owners of a platform when they edit/curate/annotate posts, and association is being exercised when they ban/shadowban users.
        loopz 6y ago
        It's all about justifications for being egotistical assholes and believing feelings are enough justification for policy. You can't reason with people who dismiss facts, empathy and consequences. You can reach the middle ground on issues that affect livelihoods of people and try to map where this may be improved.
- rayiner 6y ago
  > "Pretty much all of my leftist friends joined Parler to screw with MAGA folks, and every last one of them was banned in less than 24 hours because conservatives truly love free speech," one user recently wrote on Twitter. It sounds like they were banned for being antagonistic assholes, not for being liberals.
  - p1necone 6y ago
    It doesn't matter what they were banned for, it's still hypocritical for a platform apparently based around "free speech" to ban people for speech they don't agree with.
    - julienreszka 6y ago
      Spam and flood is not speech it's noise preventing people from having actual conversations.
      - exogeny 6y ago
        Who's to decide what is spam and flood and what's not? The circle never ends. Call Parler what it is - a right-wing circle jerk, for aggrieved snowflakes who think that "free speech" means that you can say whatever and whenever, as long as it's sufficiently conservative, and not only can the government not punish you, but those big meanie private companies can't either.
        Biganon 6y ago
        Every forum needs human moderation, but that doesn't imply that this moderation cannot be done in good or bad faith. Just like a good judge is not congruent to a big, deterministic computer.
        lostcolony 6y ago
        So you're saying you believe Parler to be moderating in better faith than Twitter/Facebook/etc? 'cause I think for your statement to be relevant that would have to be the assertion...
- p1necone 6y ago
  "free speech" is just being used as a dog whistle for far right ideas in this case. These people are not behaving in good faith, don't bother engaging with them as if they were.
  - seibelj 6y ago
    That's the point of "free speech" - I don't care how far right / left / in outer space your ideas are. You can say them, and I won't absorb the message if I don't care. It's the old saying about TV - if you don't like what's on, just change the channel.
    - TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
      That ends when you start inciting violence and promoting actions that can end other people's lives. As it should. It's one thing to claim space lizards are controlling Facebook, it's another to start saying you want to shoot up busses full of Facebook workers. Unconvincing? Replace "Facebook" with "Democrats" and you get worryingly close to Parler. But there is another problem. These sites don't just happen. If they were bottom-up spontaneous forums - someone starting with phpBB and taking it from there - they'd be tolerable. (And likely less extreme.) They aren't. These are deliberate attempts to farm and concentrate certain kinds of people with certain kinds of sentiments so they can be used as political leverage for certain interests. They're not free speech at all - they're farmed speech. That is the problem. The people who farm them are knowingly and maliciously using them to spread lies and enflame violent sentiment so they can profit from both, financially and politically.
    - cm2187 6y ago
      No free speech is about only saying things I agree with!
  - odessacubbage 6y ago
    parler is neither a free speech platform by design or a far right one, it's purely an attempt to create the fox version of twitter. their tos are highly dubious. >dog whistle to be reductive, yes far right and even fascist ideas would fall under the umbrella of free speech as would... literally everything else.
- cptskippy 6y ago
  The fact that it's funded by the Mercers should give everyone pause for concern. They're rolling their own platform to do what Cambridge Analytica did without having to answer to anyone.
  - scottlocklin 6y ago
    C/A as sinister manipulators has to be the most preposterous conspiracy theory to come out of the last 4 years -and that includes Qanon. They were a marketing company also known for the scoundrely manipulations of the.... LL Bean catalog. Maybe they sold some people flannel shirts. Terrible. https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/02/huckster-hack-uk-govt-report-undermines-stars-of-cambridge-analytica-russiagate/ https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/02/huckster-hack-uk-govt-rep...
- imgabe 6y ago
  This is what I was curious about, though I'd like to see what they actually posted and whether they got banned for the speech or for harassing people or other behavior like that. /r/TheDonald was notorious for brigading other subreddits, manipulating votes and other TOS violations then crying censorship when they got banned.
  - fallinghawks 6y ago
    /r/parlerwatch is a bit of a mess, mostly examples of extreme right wing posts, but I believe there are a few examples of people getting banned.

echelon 6y ago

Plenty of people on Reddit and TikTok are getting banned on Parler for posting liberal ideas [1]. It's not free speech. It's one-sided. [1] https://www.newsweek.com/parler-ted-cruz-approved-free-speech-app-already-banning-users-1514358 https://www.newsweek.com/parler-ted-cruz-approved-free-speec... Edit: this post is getting downvoted like crazy. People have strong opinions about this.

seibelj 6y ago
Do you have any evidence of this? From the article that seems like it violates their entire purpose for existing.
- echelon 6y ago
  Updated my post with a link. I'll find more.
  - seibelj 6y ago
    Wow that’s dumb if true, why even bother!?
    - klyrs 6y ago
      Indeed, indeed. If it's not about the principled and unflinching protection of free speech, then what is it about? I've said it about twitter and I'll say it about parler. Freedom of association is also a first amendment right. Speech is being exercised by the owners of a platform when they edit/curate/annotate posts, and association is being exercised when they ban/shadowban users.
      - loopz 6y ago
        It's all about justifications for being egotistical assholes and believing feelings are enough justification for policy. You can't reason with people who dismiss facts, empathy and consequences. You can reach the middle ground on issues that affect livelihoods of people and try to map where this may be improved.
rayiner 6y ago
> "Pretty much all of my leftist friends joined Parler to screw with MAGA folks, and every last one of them was banned in less than 24 hours because conservatives truly love free speech," one user recently wrote on Twitter. It sounds like they were banned for being antagonistic assholes, not for being liberals.
- p1necone 6y ago
  It doesn't matter what they were banned for, it's still hypocritical for a platform apparently based around "free speech" to ban people for speech they don't agree with.
  - julienreszka 6y ago
    Spam and flood is not speech it's noise preventing people from having actual conversations.
    - exogeny 6y ago
      Who's to decide what is spam and flood and what's not? The circle never ends. Call Parler what it is - a right-wing circle jerk, for aggrieved snowflakes who think that "free speech" means that you can say whatever and whenever, as long as it's sufficiently conservative, and not only can the government not punish you, but those big meanie private companies can't either.
      - Biganon 6y ago
        Every forum needs human moderation, but that doesn't imply that this moderation cannot be done in good or bad faith. Just like a good judge is not congruent to a big, deterministic computer.
        lostcolony 6y ago
        So you're saying you believe Parler to be moderating in better faith than Twitter/Facebook/etc? 'cause I think for your statement to be relevant that would have to be the assertion...
p1necone 6y ago
"free speech" is just being used as a dog whistle for far right ideas in this case. These people are not behaving in good faith, don't bother engaging with them as if they were.
- seibelj 6y ago
  That's the point of "free speech" - I don't care how far right / left / in outer space your ideas are. You can say them, and I won't absorb the message if I don't care. It's the old saying about TV - if you don't like what's on, just change the channel.
  - TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
    That ends when you start inciting violence and promoting actions that can end other people's lives. As it should. It's one thing to claim space lizards are controlling Facebook, it's another to start saying you want to shoot up busses full of Facebook workers. Unconvincing? Replace "Facebook" with "Democrats" and you get worryingly close to Parler. But there is another problem. These sites don't just happen. If they were bottom-up spontaneous forums - someone starting with phpBB and taking it from there - they'd be tolerable. (And likely less extreme.) They aren't. These are deliberate attempts to farm and concentrate certain kinds of people with certain kinds of sentiments so they can be used as political leverage for certain interests. They're not free speech at all - they're farmed speech. That is the problem. The people who farm them are knowingly and maliciously using them to spread lies and enflame violent sentiment so they can profit from both, financially and politically.
  - cm2187 6y ago
    No free speech is about only saying things I agree with!
- odessacubbage 6y ago
  parler is neither a free speech platform by design or a far right one, it's purely an attempt to create the fox version of twitter. their tos are highly dubious. >dog whistle to be reductive, yes far right and even fascist ideas would fall under the umbrella of free speech as would... literally everything else.
cptskippy 6y ago
The fact that it's funded by the Mercers should give everyone pause for concern. They're rolling their own platform to do what Cambridge Analytica did without having to answer to anyone.
- scottlocklin 6y ago
  C/A as sinister manipulators has to be the most preposterous conspiracy theory to come out of the last 4 years -and that includes Qanon. They were a marketing company also known for the scoundrely manipulations of the.... LL Bean catalog. Maybe they sold some people flannel shirts. Terrible. https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/02/huckster-hack-uk-govt-report-undermines-stars-of-cambridge-analytica-russiagate/ https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/02/huckster-hack-uk-govt-rep...
imgabe 6y ago
This is what I was curious about, though I'd like to see what they actually posted and whether they got banned for the speech or for harassing people or other behavior like that. /r/TheDonald was notorious for brigading other subreddits, manipulating votes and other TOS violations then crying censorship when they got banned.
- fallinghawks 6y ago
  /r/parlerwatch is a bit of a mess, mostly examples of extreme right wing posts, but I believe there are a few examples of people getting banned.