4 ms·

+1 for bringing up FB as a comparison. They also do it, but in my experience not as much as Twitter. Been monitoring both Twitter and FB and Twitter is just inc

+1 for bringing up FB as a comparison. They also do it, but in my experience not as much as Twitter. Been monitoring both Twitter and FB and Twitter is just incredible biased towards left.

wpietri 4y ago
What's your data here? And what does "biased towards left" even mean? In one sense, it's trivial to prove, in that Twitter bans a lot of hate and abuse, and these days targeted hate is a popular tool of the right across the globe. (See, e.g., anti-gay and anti-trans panics going on all over. Or specific ethnic hate depending on region.) So if cracking down on that is being biased toward the left, then yes, Twitter definitely is. But presumably you're saying something else?
- plushpuffin 4y ago
  As you noted, the greater prevalence of right-wing violence, hate speech, and disinformation/misinformation causes the appearance of a moderation bias against conservatives. However, there has been an actual measured bias in favor of conservative voices (circa late 2021, the home timeline algorithm may have changed since then). In other words, conservatives do more stuff to run afoul of the terms of service, and they also receive better treatment. GP is wrong/misinformed. https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/18/fascinating-new-study-suggests-again-that-twitter-moderation-is-biased-against-misinformation-not-conservatives/ https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/18/fascinating-new-study-su... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-admits-bias-in-algorithm-for-rightwing-politicians-and-news-outlets https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-a...
- neverrroot 4y ago
  Have harvested data from Twitter, FB, Reddit and some other such websites for a few years, mostly for the purpose of using it for trading. Around 18 months ago got involved into Covid data and started scraping also data related to this. But anyhow, this is getting quite complex, and in the end is just my data, and tbh, you might just be right and I’m just looking at the wrong data. But on the other hand, such characters as the main people beyond the Great Barrington Declaration and others within their circles experience interesting phenomena (e.g. vanishing likes), that at least based on my scraping I can confirm. Consider this just some anecdotal evidence, this in itself is not what triggered my above statements.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    That is a whole bucket of vaguery right there. But even if you can substantiate "vanishing likes" as a problem, that doesn't prove much. Likes vanish all the time as Twitter rolls up bot networks. You'd first have to demonstrate that this was happening, and then show it was happening disproportionately to some accounts and not others. And then once you had that, you'd have to show that the problem wasn't just excess fake engagement supporting right-wing narratives, as that's a very plausible explanation here.
- Banana699 4y ago
  It's doubly hilarious how worrying about "anti-trans and anti-gay panics" is itself a moral panic and a faulty virtue signalling mechanism.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    That is definitely not true. I have queer and trans friends, and they have legitimate worries. The "Don't Say Gay" bill in Florida is a fine example here, but there are so many more, including the very reasonable fear of Obergefell getting overturned. The backlash isn't surprising; most civil rights advances end up with one. But the tenor of it is very concerning.
    - Banana699 4y ago
      The funny thing about those sentiments is, aside from how exaggerated their proportions are (only a single judge in the Supreme Court remarked in passing about revisiting Obergefell, and the very hysterically-named Florida bill is literally just the tax payers telling you they don't want their children to hear about your sex life, straight or gay, in their tax-funded public schools. If you want your children to hear about sex lives, cool, do it on your own time and money. You can say gay as much as you want, just not to other people's kids.), is that they are largely self-inflicted. The Florida bill they are so terrified of would have never been drafted if public school employees never put gay porn in the library, people would have never got tired of Obergefell if not for the month-long religious festivals that lgbt movements like to hold so much. Lgbt movements create the conditions of their own societal rejection.
      - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
        > hysterically-named Florida bill is literally just the tax payers telling you they don't want their children to hear about your sex life, straight or gay That right there is an insincere and obvious double standard. Let me know the minute that parents sue because a heterosexual teacher says they are married in a classroom. The problem is the gay teacher will be seen as other and potentially punished if they mention their spouse but the heterosexual teacher can speak out without repercussions.
supernovae 4y ago
Twitter isn't biased, people on twitter have opinions.

+1 for bringing up FB as a comparison. They also do it, but in my experience not as much as Twitter. Been monitoring both Twitter and FB and Twitter is just incredible biased towards left.

wpietri 4y ago

What's your data here? And what does "biased towards left" even mean? In one sense, it's trivial to prove, in that Twitter bans a lot of hate and abuse, and these days targeted hate is a popular tool of the right across the globe. (See, e.g., anti-gay and anti-trans panics going on all over. Or specific ethnic hate depending on region.) So if cracking down on that is being biased toward the left, then yes, Twitter definitely is. But presumably you're saying something else?

plushpuffin 4y ago
As you noted, the greater prevalence of right-wing violence, hate speech, and disinformation/misinformation causes the appearance of a moderation bias against conservatives. However, there has been an actual measured bias in favor of conservative voices (circa late 2021, the home timeline algorithm may have changed since then). In other words, conservatives do more stuff to run afoul of the terms of service, and they also receive better treatment. GP is wrong/misinformed. https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/18/fascinating-new-study-suggests-again-that-twitter-moderation-is-biased-against-misinformation-not-conservatives/ https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/18/fascinating-new-study-su... https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-admits-bias-in-algorithm-for-rightwing-politicians-and-news-outlets https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-a...
neverrroot 4y ago
Have harvested data from Twitter, FB, Reddit and some other such websites for a few years, mostly for the purpose of using it for trading. Around 18 months ago got involved into Covid data and started scraping also data related to this. But anyhow, this is getting quite complex, and in the end is just my data, and tbh, you might just be right and I’m just looking at the wrong data. But on the other hand, such characters as the main people beyond the Great Barrington Declaration and others within their circles experience interesting phenomena (e.g. vanishing likes), that at least based on my scraping I can confirm. Consider this just some anecdotal evidence, this in itself is not what triggered my above statements.
- wpietri 4y ago
  That is a whole bucket of vaguery right there. But even if you can substantiate "vanishing likes" as a problem, that doesn't prove much. Likes vanish all the time as Twitter rolls up bot networks. You'd first have to demonstrate that this was happening, and then show it was happening disproportionately to some accounts and not others. And then once you had that, you'd have to show that the problem wasn't just excess fake engagement supporting right-wing narratives, as that's a very plausible explanation here.
Banana699 4y ago
It's doubly hilarious how worrying about "anti-trans and anti-gay panics" is itself a moral panic and a faulty virtue signalling mechanism.
- wpietri 4y ago
  That is definitely not true. I have queer and trans friends, and they have legitimate worries. The "Don't Say Gay" bill in Florida is a fine example here, but there are so many more, including the very reasonable fear of Obergefell getting overturned. The backlash isn't surprising; most civil rights advances end up with one. But the tenor of it is very concerning.
  - Banana699 4y ago
    The funny thing about those sentiments is, aside from how exaggerated their proportions are (only a single judge in the Supreme Court remarked in passing about revisiting Obergefell, and the very hysterically-named Florida bill is literally just the tax payers telling you they don't want their children to hear about your sex life, straight or gay, in their tax-funded public schools. If you want your children to hear about sex lives, cool, do it on your own time and money. You can say gay as much as you want, just not to other people's kids.), is that they are largely self-inflicted. The Florida bill they are so terrified of would have never been drafted if public school employees never put gay porn in the library, people would have never got tired of Obergefell if not for the month-long religious festivals that lgbt movements like to hold so much. Lgbt movements create the conditions of their own societal rejection.
    - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
      > hysterically-named Florida bill is literally just the tax payers telling you they don't want their children to hear about your sex life, straight or gay That right there is an insincere and obvious double standard. Let me know the minute that parents sue because a heterosexual teacher says they are married in a classroom. The problem is the gay teacher will be seen as other and potentially punished if they mention their spouse but the heterosexual teacher can speak out without repercussions.

supernovae 4y ago

Twitter isn't biased, people on twitter have opinions.