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Twitter to ban unlabelled parody accounts
- s5300 4y agoThis just in: Comedy illegal again.
- seqastian 4y agoOk, I guess parody is not comedy? This freedom thing is hard to keep up with.
- prepend 4y agoIt seems (based on the headline and article) that parody is allowed.
- chrisseaton 4y agoI guess it's still ok if it's labelled. The labelling is the issue, not the comedy, isn't it?
- enriquto 4y agoIt can be argued that "labelled" parody ceases to be comedy at all.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- aniforprez 4y agoSeems like very obviously labelled accounts are also being banned. H3H3 put up a banner with a poorly written bright red "parody" and replied to his tweets with "this is a parody account" and still got suspended
- chrisseaton 4y agoYou can't see the banner in your timeline though. I'd guess he knew that and that's why he put it there...
- tjnaylor 4y ago-- A SEGMENT OF THIS MESSAGE IS A PARODY -- If PARODY between PARODY every PARODY word PARODY the PARODY text PARODY "PARODY" must PARODY be PARODY displayed PARODY that PARODY would PARODY be PARODY a PARODY really PARODY good PARODY way PARODY to PARODY ensure PARODY nobody PARODY was PARODY confused PARODY as PARODY to PARODY what PARODY was PARODY and PARODY what PARODY was PARODY real. - Elon PARODY Musk PARODY -- END PARODY SEGMENT -- There's naturally gonna be a lot of places parody isn't labeled parody in blinking lights. It's comedically necessary. Ultimately if it is trivially easy for an average person to realize an account is not authentic (like the twitter handle being different) I think that's a fair and reasonable burden for anyone who imagines Twitter as a place where "humor is legal".
- prvc 4y agoParody is not necessarily comedy.
- radu_floricica 4y agoRemember /r/TheDonald. The line between unlabeled parody and political movement can be pretty thin.
- neuronic 4y agoThat subreddit strayed pretty far from parody very early in its lifetime.
- coffeeblack 4y agoNo, deception and slander is not comedy.
- threeseed 4y agoSure. But in this case it was entirely comedic in nature. No one profited or benefited from the endeavour and I don't think anyone seriously believed that this was Musk commenting.
- coffeeblack 4y agoThe person who does Safety at Twitter has been there for many years and he is pretty far on the “new left” side. Apparently, even he disagrees with you.
- fredoliveira 4y ago"the person" :') You're funny.
- coffeeblack 4y agoYoel Roth. He has been in that position for almost a decade. Why is the funny?
- fredoliveira 4y agoThe assumption that it is a single person taking action against mislabeled parody accounts (like you suggested, by saying even Yoel disagreed with OP) is amusing, because naturally it isn't the case.
- coffeeblack 4y agoNobody said that. Please don’t do that.
- pjc50 4y agoThere was a whole fad of people with verified accounts changing their name and profile picture to Elon and using this to make jokes until they got banned. Also mocking the "you can just buy a bluetick now" policy. A few days ago Elon posted "comedy is now legal on twitter". I guess this is a caveat to that.
- smcl 4y agoYeah he said you need to clearly label your account as "parody" account if you wanted to do that. Except people got banned even though the followed this new rule. Ethan Klein aka @h3h3Productions clearly labelled his account via a big banner picture, but has been booted off the platform. Meanwhile I'm continuing to report the pretty explicit racism, homophobia, transphobia I'm seeing in replies to some people I follow and getting the "...we want to let you know that {user} hasn't broken our safety policies..." response. So, it seems the priorities for the (presumably substantially gutted) moderation team aren't hate speech, but rather protecting Musk's feelings
- chrisseaton 4y ago> via a big banner picture I guess that doesn't appear in the feed though?
- dislikedtom2 4y agowithout taking sides, I want to point out that the banner is not a viable way to label things since blind people for example can't access the text.
- FortiDude 4y agounlabelled satirical identity theft is identity theft
- maxbond 4y agoIdentity theft is not a joke, Jim.
- labrador 4y agoDammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not an identity thief
- romanovcode 4y agoMillions of families suffer every year!
- pavlov 4y ago"You wouldn't steal a car You wouldn't steal a movie You wouldn't steal an identity Parody. It's a crime."
- jychang 4y agoYes, the solution is to label everything. You should label your comment as known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm.
- FortiDude 4y agoIf the whole point of your account is to make people laugh with the imaginary pretense that your posts are coming from another person/institution then yes, the potential readers should know it's fake. A comic strip artist that I follow constantly puts fake words into famous peoples' mouths in his newspaper sections, but even tough I know it's fake I can still partake in the momentary delusion and get a good laugh
- alpaca128 4y ago
- seydor 4y agohe may be found lying again, but it's good that those accounts will be tagged as parody if they are still going to be allowed. May solve those crypto scams etc. I wonder if @jesus will tag himself I also suggest a <sarcasm> tag as is customary on reddit. it s time we accept that on internet humor will come with PG ratings from now on By the way we dont need a new article every time elon posts a change on twitter. Wait a month and write an article about all of them
- encryptluks2 4y agoWhy would Jesus tag himself? Should we also force @toothfairy and @santaclause to do so?
- 4y ago
- bowsamic 4y agoI don't get how this "free speech absolutism" stuff has exceptions. Seems contradictory For example the more left wing people don't call themselves that bc they know that banning hate speech means not having total free speech. Why do people like Elon and his fans argue that they can still vouch for total free speech while banning certain forms of expression? EDIT: I'm rate limited so can't reply. Elon Musk has called himself a "free speech absolutist" multiple times
- prepend 4y agoI don’t think anyone claims to be a “free speech absolutist.” And this instead seems to be a straw man label applied. So it seems confusing when people talk about free speech absolutism as it’s a one sided argument. My interpretation is that there’s a free speech principle and it’s always had limits (eg, threatening someone’s life, inciting immediate violence). But it’s about drawing the line of what speech is allowed or disallowed.
- asadotzler 4y agohttps://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1499976967105433600
- fzeroracer 4y agoMusk literally called himself a free speech absolutist and I can point to any number of HN commentators on threads involving Twitter, free speech etc that said the same thing.
- encryptluks2 4y agoThere are pretty clear legal guidelines what is free speech, but I think people want to test the theory on if they ban accounts that don't violate the legal guidelines. Racism in itself isn't illegal nor being homophobic. There are plenty of right-wing grifters that make up stuff and call people pedos for being trans or gay on Twitter, and they don't get banned... I've even seen groups advocate for violence against these groups and not get banned for it. What I know for sure is that advertisers aren't going to want to deal with it becoming a polarized topic at congressional hearings.
- SomeBoolshit 4y agoLabeled parody accounts are already being banned.
- bowsamic 4y agoYeah h3h3 was totally clearly labelled and got banned
- flanked-evergl 4y agoMaybe it was unrelated?
- mandmandam 4y ago
- flanked-evergl 4y agoEthan klein has gotten multiple strikes on YouTube [1][2], clearly he has problems complying with societal norms. [1]: https://www.insider.com/h3-podcast-youtube-ethan-klein-hila-video-strike-2021-12 https://www.insider.com/h3-podcast-youtube-ethan-klein-hila-... [2]: https://www.jta.org/2022/10/21/culture/prominent-jewish-youtuber-ethan-klein-makes-holocaust-joke-about-ben-shapiro-leading-to-his-suspension https://www.jta.org/2022/10/21/culture/prominent-jewish-yout...
- bowsamic 4y agoIt shouldn’t matter bc Twitter is supposed to have total and complete free speech now
- flanked-evergl 4y ago> It shouldn’t matter bc Twitter is supposed to have total and complete free speech now Can you cite? Last I checked "Billionaire Elon Musk has said there will be no changes to Twitter's content moderation policies for now after completing his $44bn (£38.1bn) takeover of the platform." [1] Maybe this has changed, but I'm not aware that it did. [1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63428848 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63428848
- lm28469 4y ago"NOOOOOO not that kind of spree speech guys, I meant the one where we all agree with the bs I come up with"
- the_only_law 4y agoThe best part is watching them rationalizing it by mental gymnastic as suggested parody accounts are equivalent to “identity theft”.
- MallocVoidstar 4y agoUnmentioned in the article is that accounts parodying Musk, clearly labeled as parodies, are being suspended and banned: https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1589499887900819457 https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1589499887900819457 https://twitter.com/xor/status/1589402790732128256 https://twitter.com/xor/status/1589402790732128256
- adql 4y agoTo be entirely fair "it's in my profile" isn't exactly visible if you just browse twitter and don't explicitly click on the user
- MallocVoidstar 4y ago"Elon Musk (parody)" as a display name is very visible and yet apparently violates Twitter's rules.
- mandmandam 4y agoIf we're "being fair", having to label every thought you tweet with "PARODY" to not be banned is fucking bananas. And it's nearly 180 degrees from what any reasonable person would call "free speech".
- kibwen 4y ago"Comedy is now legal on Twitter" ~ Elon Musk, 2022-10-28 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586104694421659648 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586104694421659648 Sounds like he forgot to label this one as a parody, eh?
- ta8903 4y agoFrom what I understand, it's just meant for parody accounts.
- scarygliders 4y agoTo be fair, the people who labelled themselves as "Elon Musk" should have labelled themselves as "Elon Musk (parody)" or similar. That way, they automatically label their tweets as parody, and don't have to include such sentences as "this tweet was a parody" as implied in your post. In fact I'm pretty sure that's what is meant when the Twitter TOS states "To avoid confusing others about an account’s affiliation, parody, commentary, and fan accounts must distinguish themselves in BOTH their account name and bio." Exercising their free speech by clumsily painting "pArOdY" in mspaint on their Twitter account banner picture, but not including "(Parody)" in their account name, is in breach of the TOS.
- gizzlon 4y ago> Several accounts that had changed their name to the new Twitter owner have been suspended or placed behind a warning sign. [..] > Other accounts, including one parodying former US President Donald Trump by comedian Tim Heidecker, are yet to be suspended Kind of says it all :P
- encryptluks2 4y agoSort of makes sense, although his statements are pretty ambiguous. It would make more sense to have a profile option to indicate that it is a parody account and then have some indicator. However, the people he banned were just trying to prove a point about how stupid the new checkmark system is. I don't think it is worth banning them over it until the new verification system is rolled out. He should have just put a temporary pause on name changes for checkmarked accounts.
- rs_rs_rs_rs_rs 4y ago"It's a private company, they can do whatever they want."(sic)
- paulgb 4y agoThat line comes up as a retort when people accuse twitter of violating the first amendment (which, as a private company, it is not bound by). In this case I don’t see anyone talking about the first amendment, just Musk’s claims that he wouldn’t prohibit any legal speech and that “comedy is now legal”.
- 1337shadow 4y agoUsurpating identities is illegal, parodies are not. Where exactly is the debate here?
- mojzu 4y agoFor the purposes of opening a bank account or for getting a loan then it would be considered identity theft. Pretending to be someone else online though? That's perfectly legal free speech in the US as far as I'm aware
- 1337shadow 4y agoSo you'd be happy if people created social network profiles pretending to be you and posting whatever they want people to believe you said because of free speech? Sounds pretty weird, are you sure you don't have a law against such abuse? I thought free speech was me saying what I want, not a free pass to mislead people to believe I said something I didn't.
- mojzu 4y agoI wouldn't be happy with it but that doesn't make it illegal. In some countries it might be considered libel/defamation depending on what was said, but those standards vary wildly between/within countries and are to my understanding generally not considered criminal And permitting lying or misleading speech is a pretty core part of free speech, it might be socially frowned upon or disincentivised by terms of service/moderation/other methods, but it's certainly not illegal
- 1337shadow 4y agoActually, the user was benefiting from the blue checkmark of "verified account" and changed name and photo to "Elon Musk", that's got to be clearly a violation of twitter verified account terms, don't you think?
- mojzu 4y ago
- coffeeblack 4y agoGreat. I am really liking the new Twitter.
- another2another 4y agoDude, the subject is parody, not sarcasm.
- coffeeblack 4y agoNo, the subject is stopping identity theft, impersonation, and slander. Finally Twitter takes it seriously. Claiming “just a prank, bro” won’t cut it anymore. Good.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tchaffee 4y ago"Free speech absolutist" didn't last very long did it?
- kibwen 4y agoHe's still a "free speech absolutist", but only for speech that he agrees with. Perfectly consistent.
- timeon 4y agoClassic example of "free speech absolutist".
- papito 4y agoFree speech absolutists don’t want free speech. They want chaos. These are chaos monkeys. Who are Elon’s fans? Crypto bros and WSB incels.
- Ivoirians 4y agoThe Onion actually recently submitted a hilarious satirical amicus brief to the Supreme Court for the case Novak v. City of Parma [1] that made a splash in legal Twitter, for a case where a man who was arrested for making a parody Facebook page of his local police department. The amicus brief is itself a parody, an irreverent joke that has been submitted as a sincere legal document. (Thanks to LegalEagle for making a video on this [2]). The entire point of the amicus brief is an argument that labeling a parody as a parody destroys the point of the parody. The four arguments: I. Parody Functions By Tricking People Into Thinking That It Is Real II. Because Parody Mimics "The Real Thing," It Has The Unique Capacity To Critique The Real Thing III. A Reasonable Reader Does Not Need A Disclaimer To Know That Parody Is Parody IV. It Should Be Obvious That Parodists Cannot Be Prosecuted For Telling A Joke With A Straight Face It seemed a bit relevant to this. It's pending certiori and might go ignored, but the Supreme Court could rule that parody is protected under the first amendment, which would make Twitter an opponent of actual free speech (the legislative definition, not the new internet definition). [1] https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/20221003125252896_35295545_1-22.10.03%20-%20Novak-Parma%20-%20Onion%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/2022... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxTWonQvXkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxTWonQvXkw
- bestouff 4y ago> III. A Reasonable Reader [...] There. Here's the problem.
- kibwen 4y ago"Your honor, it's clear that my client cannot possibly be considered a reasonable human being, as evidenced by the fact that he is on Twitter."
- recuter 4y agoIf only it was limited to Twitter. I'd pay the $8/mo for an official extension that content-blocks everything emanating from that domain. Call it Twitter Pro-phylactic.
- thinkingemote 4y agoI've heard (but not looked into it deeply) that Mastodon will allow parody and scam accounts? Does Mastodon have less moderation than Twitter? Seems like Mastodon is more free speech friendly than Twitter now? Might it therefore suffer from hate in the future, once it's own September begins.
- sylens 4y agoIf you're on a Mastodon instance with someone spewing hate, either the admin of the instance bans them or you can move to an instance where that hate isn't tolerated. It's the benefit of the platform, and it's why Jack is trying to build something similar (well, a protocol) with Blue Sky.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 4y agoI wonder how Joe Rogan will react to this the next time Musk goes on his podcast. Joe has been a deep fanboy of Elon's for a while, but he also doesn't like it much when people get banned/canceled for telling jokes, especially when they are professional comedians. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/comedian-kathy-griffin-suspended-twitter-mocking-ceo-elon-musk-rcna55916 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/comedian-kathy-griffin-...
- JohnTHaller 4y agoAn account of "Elon Musk (x) @jeremyjohnson" is clearly labeled as not actually Elon Musk. Many of the accounts banned included the fact that they were a parody or someone else in their bio as well. They just changed their display name and picture to highlight the stupidity of the verification checkmark turning into an $8 a month checkmark with no verification process. It's more of Elon overreacting to the consequences of his poor planning and lack of understanding.