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Facebook blatantly allowing the manipulation of politics. Twitter / youtube deciding what the people can talk about. Now netflix refusing content exposing a b

Facebook blatantly allowing the manipulation of politics. Twitter / youtube deciding what the people can talk about. Now netflix refusing content exposing a brazen crime with global implications. For how long will we allow non elected superentities control our lives?

qeternity 6y ago
> For how long will we allow non elected superentities control our lives? ...you say, freely commenting on a site, that is freely discussing another site that is openly reporting on the fact that Netflix are doing this. The mere fact that you know that this documentary exists and that Netflix is passing on it due to geopolitical influence I think is proof that Netflix is not controlling our lives?
- newsclues 6y ago
  My mom doesn’t read hacker news. She didn’t see this film on the streaming services she pays for. She didn’t see it on the tv news or hear about it on the radio. Is my mother’s life controlled and I’ve hacked my way to freedom?
  - felipemnoa 6y ago
    Tell her about it. She will tell her friends. Streisand effect...
    - newsclues 6y ago
      You’re missing the point. We are the exception to the norm. Most people just watch whatever is on Netflix.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - qeternity 6y ago
        That’s not an argument for nationalizing Netflix and using it to indoctrinate people according to some agenda that you find agreeable.
- zarkov99 6y ago
  Oh yes, everything is fine, because HN is not censoring some anonymous reader. Come on. Control over information might be the defining issue of this century. The danger is real and existencial and as a society we are completely unprepared to meet it.
  - qeternity 6y ago
    My point isn’t that HN is fine, my point is that the internet is literally filled with places to engage in free discussion. You’re worried that people won’t do that and that if they don’t, we should somehow force some Big Tech Co to indoctrinate them with an agenda that you find agreeable. Just because most people elect to use a service despite having gobs of alternatives doesn’t make that service a monopoly.
    - zarkov99 6y ago
      Forget what I find agreeable or not, that is not the point. The point is that this movie, which in all likelihood would have done quite well, was supressed from netflix for political reasons. This supression will have a huge impact on the film's reach and therefore greatly reduced it's impact. The fact that netflix is now a political agent, with the power to manipulate a giant audience for inscrutable but likely very ugly reasons should worry us all. This is a dangerous state of affairs that should not be reflexively shrugged off just because the wrong tribe complained about it first. This is coming for us all.
falcor84 6y ago
> For how long will we allow non elected superentities control our lives? What does that even mean? Who is it who's allowing or not allowing a media company to control people's lives?
- cbozeman 6y ago
  It means people are scared enough of "Big Tech" to actually defend Donald Trump, which is what Angela Merkel did. When he was banned from Twitter and YouTube and Facebook, they all perked up... because they realized, "That could be me..." If these companies can ban the most powerful human on the planet, they know they could be next, the moment they end up in the crosshairs.
  - Bakary 6y ago
    Merkel made those statements because Germany has a specific cultural attitude towards censorship and privacy considering their own history.
caymanjim 6y ago
What's your solution? Forcing Netflix to purchase and distribute content they don't want? Do we just force Netflix, or do we force every media company to host it? Who makes that decision? Want to vote? Stop using Facebook, stop using Twitter, stop using Netflix. The film is available for streaming elsewhere. Go watch it.
- cbozeman 6y ago
  A documentary about a journalist being murdered because he criticized a truly legitimately shit regime. A documentary that almost everyone who watched it says is borderline child pornography. Guess which one was on Netflix and which one wasn't.
  - nkurz 6y ago
    I'm not sure how it affects your argument, but in the interest of accuracy (and presuming I haven't missed hearing about another controversial documentary) I'll mention that "Cuties" is not a documentary, but a fictional feature film. I haven't seen either.
marcinzm 6y ago
Want a solution? Have the government fund public broadcasting and communication sites like in various other countries. Wait, you don't want the government to see and control all your information and communication? But you also don't want private companies to do so? edit: As for de-centralized approaches, imho those don't work great when you want creators to make money rather than simply having everyone pirate the movie.
racl101 6y ago
I know one way to not support a company.
tootie 6y ago
This is not at all equivalent though. Netflix isn't refusing to allow this on their platform, they just weren't willing to pay for it. Fogle could post his video on youtube and it wouldn't be a problem. He wants to be paid millions of dollars to get a big distribution deal. That's squarely a privilege and not a right.
Bakary 6y ago
If you are not wealthy enough to no longer have to work, your employer already controls more than a third of your life, and exerts all sorts of peripheral control through all the pressures necessary to maintain a specific job (location, social trail, etc.). Comparatively, what you describe seems like a non-issue

qeternity 6y ago

> For how long will we allow non elected superentities control our lives? ...you say, freely commenting on a site, that is freely discussing another site that is openly reporting on the fact that Netflix are doing this. The mere fact that you know that this documentary exists and that Netflix is passing on it due to geopolitical influence I think is proof that Netflix is not controlling our lives?

newsclues 6y ago
My mom doesn’t read hacker news. She didn’t see this film on the streaming services she pays for. She didn’t see it on the tv news or hear about it on the radio. Is my mother’s life controlled and I’ve hacked my way to freedom?
- felipemnoa 6y ago
  Tell her about it. She will tell her friends. Streisand effect...
  - newsclues 6y ago
    You’re missing the point. We are the exception to the norm. Most people just watch whatever is on Netflix.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - qeternity 6y ago
      That’s not an argument for nationalizing Netflix and using it to indoctrinate people according to some agenda that you find agreeable.
zarkov99 6y ago
Oh yes, everything is fine, because HN is not censoring some anonymous reader. Come on. Control over information might be the defining issue of this century. The danger is real and existencial and as a society we are completely unprepared to meet it.
- qeternity 6y ago
  My point isn’t that HN is fine, my point is that the internet is literally filled with places to engage in free discussion. You’re worried that people won’t do that and that if they don’t, we should somehow force some Big Tech Co to indoctrinate them with an agenda that you find agreeable. Just because most people elect to use a service despite having gobs of alternatives doesn’t make that service a monopoly.
  - zarkov99 6y ago
    Forget what I find agreeable or not, that is not the point. The point is that this movie, which in all likelihood would have done quite well, was supressed from netflix for political reasons. This supression will have a huge impact on the film's reach and therefore greatly reduced it's impact. The fact that netflix is now a political agent, with the power to manipulate a giant audience for inscrutable but likely very ugly reasons should worry us all. This is a dangerous state of affairs that should not be reflexively shrugged off just because the wrong tribe complained about it first. This is coming for us all.

falcor84 6y ago

> For how long will we allow non elected superentities control our lives? What does that even mean? Who is it who's allowing or not allowing a media company to control people's lives?

cbozeman 6y ago
It means people are scared enough of "Big Tech" to actually defend Donald Trump, which is what Angela Merkel did. When he was banned from Twitter and YouTube and Facebook, they all perked up... because they realized, "That could be me..." If these companies can ban the most powerful human on the planet, they know they could be next, the moment they end up in the crosshairs.
- Bakary 6y ago
  Merkel made those statements because Germany has a specific cultural attitude towards censorship and privacy considering their own history.

caymanjim 6y ago

What's your solution? Forcing Netflix to purchase and distribute content they don't want? Do we just force Netflix, or do we force every media company to host it? Who makes that decision? Want to vote? Stop using Facebook, stop using Twitter, stop using Netflix. The film is available for streaming elsewhere. Go watch it.

cbozeman 6y ago
A documentary about a journalist being murdered because he criticized a truly legitimately shit regime. A documentary that almost everyone who watched it says is borderline child pornography. Guess which one was on Netflix and which one wasn't.
- nkurz 6y ago
  I'm not sure how it affects your argument, but in the interest of accuracy (and presuming I haven't missed hearing about another controversial documentary) I'll mention that "Cuties" is not a documentary, but a fictional feature film. I haven't seen either.

marcinzm 6y ago

Want a solution? Have the government fund public broadcasting and communication sites like in various other countries. Wait, you don't want the government to see and control all your information and communication? But you also don't want private companies to do so? edit: As for de-centralized approaches, imho those don't work great when you want creators to make money rather than simply having everyone pirate the movie.

racl101 6y ago

I know one way to not support a company.

tootie 6y ago

This is not at all equivalent though. Netflix isn't refusing to allow this on their platform, they just weren't willing to pay for it. Fogle could post his video on youtube and it wouldn't be a problem. He wants to be paid millions of dollars to get a big distribution deal. That's squarely a privilege and not a right.

Bakary 6y ago

If you are not wealthy enough to no longer have to work, your employer already controls more than a third of your life, and exerts all sorts of peripheral control through all the pressures necessary to maintain a specific job (location, social trail, etc.). Comparatively, what you describe seems like a non-issue