9 ms·

> The social platforms aren't censoring you (or some idea you like) because they disagree with you. They are censoring because they are large social platforms,

by drooby 4y ago

> The social platforms aren't censoring you (or some idea you like) because they disagree with you. They are censoring because they are large social platforms, and ideas are POWERFUL and DANGEROUS. > Let me be clear: if you run a large social network, you will be forced by inexorable circumstance to censor certain things, you will be forced to "arbitrate" on topics you have an (inevitably) limited understanding of, and it will all be really really shitty. > (The alternative is just collapse of the platform, so I guess you do always have a choice - but then you're not a social platform anymore) I'd love if he provided an example of these powerful and dangerous ideas that must be censored. This is exactly the kind of language that any powerful organization that is scared of losing power says - it's all in the interest of saving lives... okay, what are the examples? Why is this not a matter best handled by law enforcement? This just further convinces me that social media is a cancer to society.

throwmeariver1 4y ago
It's easy an idea that alienates more than 20-30% of your user base as he said they don't really care about politics and I believe him. Can be something simple like a fucked up redesign... looking at you Digg.
- drooby 4y ago
  ahh shit okay I see. Yeah social media is a cancer. At least in its current centralized form.
Spivak 4y ago
I mean the list of banned subreddits is (mostly) known if you want a few hundred examples. https://old.reddit.com/r/reclassified/comments/fg3608/updated_list_of_all_known_banned_subreddits https://old.reddit.com/r/reclassified/comments/fg3608/update... Like I would post some highlights so people don't have to click the link but I don't even feel good about posting most of the names of the subs. They're just... awful.
- syshum 4y ago
  Really. While some of them have clearly illegal content which goes beyond the topic of censorship there are LOTS of others a person that values the princible of free speech should have no problem with Like Drugs, Guns, etc. Then you have entire lists of subreddits that break the rules (harassment, hate speech, etc) but are deemed "acceptable" by the admins due to those subreddits breaking the rules against people that the reddit admins have deemed "acceptable targets"
  - Spivak 4y ago
    I mean there were (and are!) large hate subs that stayed up for years and get no attention from the admins until it makes the news so I wouldn't necessarily take "hasn't been banned yet" as some kind of endorsement. However, I think there's a lot of nuance when it comes to subreddits that mock "acceptable targets." The content might look superficially similar but the intent and impact are different. A hypothetical subreddit /r/letsmockwomen serves mostly as a lightning rod for those who already hate women to have an excuse to let that out in a forum where it's "more acceptable" because the OP isn't just a woman, but typically a woman who's done something that, in isolation, is stupid and makes sense to mock. But the difference compared to /r/letsmockwhitepeople is that the replies will won't be "she's dumb" but "women are dumb." And that's the the idea that will proliferate, not "women are, like all humans, are capable of stupidity" which leads to real life consequences.
    - syshum 4y ago
      I think the inverse of letsmockwomen would be letsmockmen where in reddit both subreddits can be very toxic and promote violence however only one gets banned
astrange 4y ago
Anything that causes a bunch of your userbase to get annoyed and leave, your own employees to have a bunch of their time wasted, trouble hiring new ones, or anything that causes real world consequences (from crimes to users getting in offline fights) you may have lawyers bill you for. This has nothing to do with ~the powerful losing power~. You need to remember that most things that happen in real life aren't interesting.
- drooby 4y ago
  > This has nothing to do with ~the powerful losing power. I guess I consider a company dying the "powerful losing power". Its essentially what his whole thread was about - companies don't care about the politics - they want to survive. And they will survive at the expensive of society's well-being.
mjr00 4y ago
> I'd love if he provided an example of these powerful and dangerous ideas that must be censored. Plenty of historical reddit examples of this: /r/fatpeoplehate was the first sub I remember that got removed and caused huge site-wide drama, then there were all of the incel subreddits, then /r/watchpeopledie and the wave of gore subreddits, etc. > Why is this not a matter best handled by law enforcement? Is there anything illegal about making fun of overweight people, ranting about how much you hate women, or posting industrial accident footage? Generally speaking, no. Is it something that should be on reddit? This is where the arbitration and individual judgment of admin comes in.

by drooby 4y ago

throwmeariver1 4y ago

It's easy an idea that alienates more than 20-30% of your user base as he said they don't really care about politics and I believe him. Can be something simple like a fucked up redesign... looking at you Digg.

drooby 4y ago
ahh shit okay I see. Yeah social media is a cancer. At least in its current centralized form.

Spivak 4y ago

I mean the list of banned subreddits is (mostly) known if you want a few hundred examples. https://old.reddit.com/r/reclassified/comments/fg3608/updated_list_of_all_known_banned_subreddits https://old.reddit.com/r/reclassified/comments/fg3608/update... Like I would post some highlights so people don't have to click the link but I don't even feel good about posting most of the names of the subs. They're just... awful.

syshum 4y ago
Really. While some of them have clearly illegal content which goes beyond the topic of censorship there are LOTS of others a person that values the princible of free speech should have no problem with Like Drugs, Guns, etc. Then you have entire lists of subreddits that break the rules (harassment, hate speech, etc) but are deemed "acceptable" by the admins due to those subreddits breaking the rules against people that the reddit admins have deemed "acceptable targets"
- Spivak 4y ago
  I mean there were (and are!) large hate subs that stayed up for years and get no attention from the admins until it makes the news so I wouldn't necessarily take "hasn't been banned yet" as some kind of endorsement. However, I think there's a lot of nuance when it comes to subreddits that mock "acceptable targets." The content might look superficially similar but the intent and impact are different. A hypothetical subreddit /r/letsmockwomen serves mostly as a lightning rod for those who already hate women to have an excuse to let that out in a forum where it's "more acceptable" because the OP isn't just a woman, but typically a woman who's done something that, in isolation, is stupid and makes sense to mock. But the difference compared to /r/letsmockwhitepeople is that the replies will won't be "she's dumb" but "women are dumb." And that's the the idea that will proliferate, not "women are, like all humans, are capable of stupidity" which leads to real life consequences.
  - syshum 4y ago
    I think the inverse of letsmockwomen would be letsmockmen where in reddit both subreddits can be very toxic and promote violence however only one gets banned

astrange 4y ago

Anything that causes a bunch of your userbase to get annoyed and leave, your own employees to have a bunch of their time wasted, trouble hiring new ones, or anything that causes real world consequences (from crimes to users getting in offline fights) you may have lawyers bill you for. This has nothing to do with ~the powerful losing power~. You need to remember that most things that happen in real life aren't interesting.

drooby 4y ago
> This has nothing to do with ~the powerful losing power. I guess I consider a company dying the "powerful losing power". Its essentially what his whole thread was about - companies don't care about the politics - they want to survive. And they will survive at the expensive of society's well-being.

mjr00 4y ago

> I'd love if he provided an example of these powerful and dangerous ideas that must be censored. Plenty of historical reddit examples of this: /r/fatpeoplehate was the first sub I remember that got removed and caused huge site-wide drama, then there were all of the incel subreddits, then /r/watchpeopledie and the wave of gore subreddits, etc. > Why is this not a matter best handled by law enforcement? Is there anything illegal about making fun of overweight people, ranting about how much you hate women, or posting industrial accident footage? Generally speaking, no. Is it something that should be on reddit? This is where the arbitration and individual judgment of admin comes in.