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The issue is the damage that can be caused by saying "January 6th is where we retake democracy and stop the steal". Such statements led to a riot, and were done

The issue is the damage that can be caused by saying "January 6th is where we retake democracy and stop the steal". Such statements led to a riot, and were done by a very influential user of Twitter. Twitter, recoiling in disgust over that event, banned said user. It wasn't much all else considered, but we've woken up to the fact that a large segment of speech is actively harmful to this country. We don't know how to moderate that speech quite yet. But just letting it all back on surely isn't the answer.

YetAnotherNick 4y ago
How is this a twitter's problem? If some country wants to censor someone, they could sent court approved letter. At least judges/legal system are trained on what is allowed or not, rather than random ban by faceless mod without any way to talk to contest the ban. Twitter should only ban on clear rules like e.g. no spam, no child porn etc. and leave other things to people who are expert in this. Because if they can't state their rule clearly they probably are prone to making mistake themselves.
- dragontamer 4y ago
  > How is this a twitter's problem? Twitter exists in the USA, and Donald Trump's tweets were destroying the foundation our country is built upon. > If some country wants to censor someone, they could sent court approved letter. USA holds no laws governing or restricting the speech. Its up to individuals to rise up and say "Stop being a jackass", when a bully is messing with others. Similarly, Twitter is the owner of... well.. Twitter. Its Twitter's responsibility to govern and moderate the discussion on its platform. -------- When someone is harassing you here on Hacker News or engaging in damaging discussion, we rely upon moderators to cut off that discussion and lead us back to some useful path. That's why we're _here_ instead of a "freer speech" area like 4-chan or 8-chan. Because those other areas are composed of complete nutjobs. ---------- Anyway, its no big deal if Twitter's new owner wants to become the new 4chan / 8chan / whatever. Its absolutely in his right to take the platform in that direction. But we all know what a good owner _should_ be doing.

YetAnotherNick 4y ago

How is this a twitter's problem? If some country wants to censor someone, they could sent court approved letter. At least judges/legal system are trained on what is allowed or not, rather than random ban by faceless mod without any way to talk to contest the ban. Twitter should only ban on clear rules like e.g. no spam, no child porn etc. and leave other things to people who are expert in this. Because if they can't state their rule clearly they probably are prone to making mistake themselves.

dragontamer 4y ago
> How is this a twitter's problem? Twitter exists in the USA, and Donald Trump's tweets were destroying the foundation our country is built upon. > If some country wants to censor someone, they could sent court approved letter. USA holds no laws governing or restricting the speech. Its up to individuals to rise up and say "Stop being a jackass", when a bully is messing with others. Similarly, Twitter is the owner of... well.. Twitter. Its Twitter's responsibility to govern and moderate the discussion on its platform. -------- When someone is harassing you here on Hacker News or engaging in damaging discussion, we rely upon moderators to cut off that discussion and lead us back to some useful path. That's why we're _here_ instead of a "freer speech" area like 4-chan or 8-chan. Because those other areas are composed of complete nutjobs. ---------- Anyway, its no big deal if Twitter's new owner wants to become the new 4chan / 8chan / whatever. Its absolutely in his right to take the platform in that direction. But we all know what a good owner _should_ be doing.