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The problem isn't what happens when tech companies censor a very power man. It's that if they can censor a very power man, then there is no bounds on what they
by rhino369 6y ago
The problem isn't what happens when tech companies censor a very power man. It's that if they can censor a very power man, then there is no bounds on what they can and will do for less powerful people.
For social networks, the root of the problem is their quasi-monopoly status. We wouldn't accept Comcast deplatforming people.
It's a bad idea to set policy based on the worst examples. I can't see any harm in kicking Trump off twitter. He was basically begging for it. But should Trump's extreme actions be used to justify banning BLM protests because they sometimes turn violent? How about Hong Kong demonstrations? Didn't they storm a legislature? How about WSJ? They print people who believe in election fraud.
It's like using 9-11 to set all terrorism policy.
IMO--these actions should be an "emergency only" policy rather than Big Tech deciding it needs to police what we all hear and think. It's really not clear which its going to be.
- acdha 6y agoThe way you’re using “censor” doesn’t accurately describe the situation. It evokes images of people being sent to the gulag for sharing samizdat but he’s not exactly silenced when he can have full coverage by the international media any time he chooses, and Trump’s accounts were not disabled for spreading conservative ideas but for inciting deadly violence. A private company exercising its rights under the contract he voluntarily made with them does not seem like something conservatives should be complaining about.
- rhino369 6y agoI strongly dispute that censor evokes gulags. A person of ordinary education would understand the Hollywood Blacklists of the 50's as censorship. It's a quintessential example of censorship. To extent you want to redefine censorship as only government actions, there is a pretty plausible argument that elements of the US government pushed for this. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/19/angry-democrats-facebook-424456 https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/19/angry-democrats-fa... It might not be a coincidence that Big Tech waited until Trumps defeat looked certain to finally start censoring his posts in Oct 2020. They were probably afraid of what a Democratic DOJ would do. Democrats have blamed Trump's win on big tech for years.
- acdha 6y agoOkay, go with that. Trump isn’t losing his job, house, or anything else because of what Twitter did. The only thing he’s using is free use of their infrastructure to advertise his speech — and he still has all of the news media, his campaign and personal websites and email, etc. so that’s really not much of an impediment.