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They made this pretty explicit for the former president of the US: anybody "newsworthy" (ie. has enough power to hurt the platform) has near free play around th

They made this pretty explicit for the former president of the US: anybody "newsworthy" (ie. has enough power to hurt the platform) has near free play around the rules. In contrast my personal opinion is that we should hold people in power to a higher standard.

qwytw 5y ago
I don't think content posted by elected officials should be moderated (except maybe in the most extreme cases). The society should have the right too see it and make their own conclusions about it. I bet a quite a few people would have had a better opinion of Trump, if Twitter actually removed his tweets where he made various untruthful and inciteful claims.
- akudha 5y ago
  quite a few people would have had a better opinion of Trump, if Twitter actually removed his tweets where he made various untruthful This is a double edged sword. A lot of people will (and do) blindly believe anything their leader (Trump or someone else) says, no matter how stupid/wrong/evil it is. I guess you are assuming people are rational and that people have time/patience to carefully analyze the content they are consuming and separate truth from hysteria. The reality is that most people (left or right, religious or non-religious... doesn't matter) have already made up their minds and simply look for people who think alike, to rationalize the bubble they are in. Which the tech companies and media are happy to serve, as that is where the money is.
buran77 5y ago
It goes beyond newsworthy accounts and into what's in the best interest of the company. When I posted this [0] a couple of months ago if sounded far fetched for many. Facebook (and Twitter) will selectively apply any measure depending on whether it's in their best interest or not. Everything else is usually a rationalization of that outcome. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26195047 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26195047 > They are removing some fake accounts and not others. > Some departments are routinely instructed to turn a blind eye to the actions of some but not others
icegreentea2 5y ago
In the US, political speech (of all types) is usually held to a looser standard (in the sense that it's harder to restrict) - which I think makes sense. We should hold our elected officials to a higher standard, but we probably do so through the mechanisms built into our laws. That being said... not all speech by political figures is political speech.
snarf21 5y ago
I agree but they are never going to hold those with the ability to cut off the money to a higher standard. Money talks.

qwytw 5y ago

I don't think content posted by elected officials should be moderated (except maybe in the most extreme cases). The society should have the right too see it and make their own conclusions about it. I bet a quite a few people would have had a better opinion of Trump, if Twitter actually removed his tweets where he made various untruthful and inciteful claims.

akudha 5y ago
quite a few people would have had a better opinion of Trump, if Twitter actually removed his tweets where he made various untruthful This is a double edged sword. A lot of people will (and do) blindly believe anything their leader (Trump or someone else) says, no matter how stupid/wrong/evil it is. I guess you are assuming people are rational and that people have time/patience to carefully analyze the content they are consuming and separate truth from hysteria. The reality is that most people (left or right, religious or non-religious... doesn't matter) have already made up their minds and simply look for people who think alike, to rationalize the bubble they are in. Which the tech companies and media are happy to serve, as that is where the money is.

buran77 5y ago

It goes beyond newsworthy accounts and into what's in the best interest of the company. When I posted this [0] a couple of months ago if sounded far fetched for many. Facebook (and Twitter) will selectively apply any measure depending on whether it's in their best interest or not. Everything else is usually a rationalization of that outcome. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26195047 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26195047 > They are removing some fake accounts and not others. > Some departments are routinely instructed to turn a blind eye to the actions of some but not others

icegreentea2 5y ago

In the US, political speech (of all types) is usually held to a looser standard (in the sense that it's harder to restrict) - which I think makes sense. We should hold our elected officials to a higher standard, but we probably do so through the mechanisms built into our laws. That being said... not all speech by political figures is political speech.

snarf21 5y ago

I agree but they are never going to hold those with the ability to cut off the money to a higher standard. Money talks.