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Twitter is neither a news website nor a search engine. The only sinister thing here is that, as the article mentions, the Government wants Twitter to reveal th
by kranner 5y ago
Twitter is neither a news website nor a search engine.
The only sinister thing here is that, as the article mentions, the Government wants Twitter to reveal the IP addresses of specific users and Twitter is refusing to do so. Also Twitter is marking fake news spread by Government ministers and functionaries as manipulated media.
Another issue that the article doesn't mention is that the Government is pushing users towards Koo, a private alternative to Twitter that is by all accounts extremely aligned with the Government's political and religious views.
It's another step towards replicating the Great Firewall.
Edit: corrected "fake users" to "fake news"
- kumarvvr 5y agoUnfortunately, it acts as both in many instances. User profiling and data mining, coupled with corporate interest to keep users on the site as long as possible, leads to slow but firm biasing. Search results are not objective, but subjective based on the user history and profile. On the flip end, it is not a news site, but a massive distributor of news items. So it does act as a newspaper, because people consume large amounts of news from it. Is it a news site, yes. Does it have mechanisms of editorial policy or checks and balances? Not that I can see. Is it a search engine. Yes. Is it unbiased as a search engine, no.
- kranner 5y agoAll your points apply to YouTube as well, and YouTube has more than 10x the users it has in India than Twitter does. But then why is YouTube not being targeted by the Government? One salient difference I see is that Twitter is protecting its users by being identified and punished by the Government for being anti-Government.
- kumarvvr 5y agoBecause youtube has no mechanism to label content one way or other. It is not a massive distribution network. It is a content heavy site used for sharing videos. The actual sharing happens on other platforms.
- kranner 5y agoSo you're saying the moment YouTube begins to flag content as potentially manipulated, it could become a problem? And do none of the points in your previous comment matter at all?
- kumarvvr 5y agoOf course. If you put out a video expressing your views on a political situation, and YT labels your video as "manipulative video", won't you have a problem?
- kranner 5y ago> If you put out a video expressing your views on a political situation, and YT labels your video as "manipulative video", won't you have a problem? So you’re admitting this looks like an act of retribution by the Government then?
- specialist 5y ago> Twitter is neither a news website nor a search engine. Correct. Just a social contagion which profits from sabotaging both news and search.