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That might all be true but it distracts from the original point - the FBI helped suppress information about a candidate prior to a Presidential election under t

by refurb 4y ago

That might all be true but it distracts from the original point - the FBI helped suppress information about a candidate prior to a Presidential election under the claim it was “disinformation” but had no evidence it was. They just said "it looks like Russian disinformation". That should worry anyone no matter who you voted for. Sure, the Trump side may be guilty of twisting it into something it's not, but I'm pretty sure "let's have the FBI suppress true stories to stop them from being twisted for political gain" is a terrible way to address it.

krapp 4y ago
As I read the article, it doesn't suggest the FBI knew the story about Hunter Biden's laptop was true at the time, so the claim that they were "suppressing true stories," while technically correct, is a disingenuous framing of events. It seems the FBI didn't order Facebook to suppress that story specifically, rather they warned Facebook generally about misinformation and propaganda, and Facebook (along with everyone else) decided of their own volition to suppress the story about the laptop. A story which, we both admit, was surrounded by a cloud of misinformation regardless of the kernel of truth in the middle. So they weren't even entirely wrong to do so on that account. You could say that Facebook and the media were caught up in something of a moral panic about disinformation at the time, and overreacted, and I might agree. And again - this wasn't information about a candidate. As far as I know, the only link to Joe Biden is that Hunter Biden introduced a Russian businessman to him when he was Vice President. That's hardly Watergate.
- troon-lover 4y ago
- refurb 4y ago
  You're missing the forest for the trees. The content of the laptop is not the point in question. The ability of the FBI and the media to bury a factual story right before an election is the problem. If the sides had been flipped and the FBI said potentially negative news about Trump was "disinformation" (without proof) I'd be just as concerned. And take a look at the NYTimes article from Oct 2020. It details the fact the FBI had seen the laptop a year earlier (including a receipt from the Baltimore FBI office and confirmation from the FBI). It knew it wasn't Russian disinformation before the story ever broke. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-laptop.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-...
  - desindol 4y ago
    But they didn’t do any of the things you accuse them of…

by refurb 4y ago

krapp 4y ago

As I read the article, it doesn't suggest the FBI knew the story about Hunter Biden's laptop was true at the time, so the claim that they were "suppressing true stories," while technically correct, is a disingenuous framing of events. It seems the FBI didn't order Facebook to suppress that story specifically, rather they warned Facebook generally about misinformation and propaganda, and Facebook (along with everyone else) decided of their own volition to suppress the story about the laptop. A story which, we both admit, was surrounded by a cloud of misinformation regardless of the kernel of truth in the middle. So they weren't even entirely wrong to do so on that account. You could say that Facebook and the media were caught up in something of a moral panic about disinformation at the time, and overreacted, and I might agree. And again - this wasn't information about a candidate. As far as I know, the only link to Joe Biden is that Hunter Biden introduced a Russian businessman to him when he was Vice President. That's hardly Watergate.

troon-lover 4y ago
refurb 4y ago
You're missing the forest for the trees. The content of the laptop is not the point in question. The ability of the FBI and the media to bury a factual story right before an election is the problem. If the sides had been flipped and the FBI said potentially negative news about Trump was "disinformation" (without proof) I'd be just as concerned. And take a look at the NYTimes article from Oct 2020. It details the fact the FBI had seen the laptop a year earlier (including a receipt from the Baltimore FBI office and confirmation from the FBI). It knew it wasn't Russian disinformation before the story ever broke. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-laptop.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-...
- desindol 4y ago
  But they didn’t do any of the things you accuse them of…