4 ms·

Politicians should never be able to directly influence the moderation of social media items they find politically unfavorable; I don't care which party does it.

Politicians should never be able to directly influence the moderation of social media items they find politically unfavorable; I don't care which party does it. I can understand something that involves direct threats/calls to violence, but that's about it. Anyone that has used Twitter for some time knows the moderation was often not all that even, not just by pure political means but also threats of violence etc were always treated differently depending on who they were aimed at.

starkd 4y ago
Exactly. The fact so many don't understand this is discouraging. Just because you support a particular candidate shouldn't mean it is ok, because it could very easily go against you on another occasion. There needs to be a uniform standard and accountability for this.
- code_witch_sam 4y ago
  what does a particular politician have to do with this? the "leak" literally said both the trump white house and the biden campaign lobbied to have posts removed i think it's kind of funny that the government is lobbying corporation now, rather than the other way around.
  - runsWphotons 4y ago
    "lobbied". this is mob stuff!
  - arminiusreturns 4y ago
    It's as if everyone parroting this line stopped reading at the "However": "10.Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However: 11. This system wasn't balanced. It was based on contacts. Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right. https://t.co/sa1uVRNhuH https://t.co/sa1uVRNhuH 12. The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives."
    - tonants 4y ago
      Obviously this community is very left leaning and they (used to?) love Elon. So really this is kind of funny to watch.
  - starkd 4y ago
    You do know what this kind of government/corp collaboration is, don't you? It's literally the beginning of a fascist state. This is not hyperbole either, though I wish it was.
greenthrow 4y ago
What if the content is illegally obtained personal material of the politician's civilian family members?
- Amezarak 4y ago
  - myko 4y ago
    > situations involving prostitutes (sometimes underage) This is a lie, you should reconsider consuming information from wherever you picked this "fact" up.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- rhaksw 4y ago
  IANAL but I believe the law says if the journalist didn't aid in whatever made obtaining it illegal, like hacking the data out, then they are clear to publish it. And that's what one Dem called for Twitter to write in its policy, according to the "Twitter files": https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598838041371516929/photo/1 https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598838041371516929/photo...
- paconbork 4y ago
  Then they can flag the offending post through twitter's reporting system like everyone else
- partiallypro 4y ago
  Twitter never shut down Wikileaks or other things in the interest of national security that involved civilians and government officials alike. They have allowed journalists to leak other similar stories from hacks constantly. The Panama Papers, etc were all mostly civilians. Twitter never censored that, except in China at the behest of the CCP. Which comes to the original point. No politician or political arm should have the power or influence to take something down they find unfavorable. I prefer not to live in a CCP like state where the "party" gets an edit button on everyone's thoughts.
kumarvvr 4y ago
But so does dark money in politics, which is worse than influencing twitter. Dark money flows to high impact mass distribution channels, and who knows what is truth and what is not, and the response is social media should not be asked to take down false or misleading content?
tomrod 4y ago
Nude pictures of an individual being distributed without consent isn't politically unfavorable -- its criminal in many places and obscene everywhere. The "laptop" story is a red herring for Trump's crimes and used to cover them up by making up a load of BS to give cover for Republican whataboutism. What I find surprising is the defense many HN commentators are giving to this propaganda, especially those that try to say silliness like "Biden was installed!" I'm neither Republican or Democrat -- I'm an equal opportunity cynic in relation to political parties -- and boy, has the GOP been taking advantage of that opportunity!
- partiallypro 4y ago
  The NY Post didn't post any nude photos, and they were banned. So, your talking point is nonsense. If you weren't a part of either party, wouldn't you want to...idk, crackdown on corruption in both parties? Seems that would be the non-partisan thing to do. Instead of saying "well, what Trump did was worse!" Both Trump and Biden should both be held responsible for any corruption. Hunter getting on the board of an energy company with no experience in the field, and then having email chains lending to a possibility of using his father's influence for business...seems like something worth reporting on and looking into. Just as Trump using his hotel chains to collect money from foreign diplomats should also be taken seriously and looked into, among the other terrible things he's done. Having a D or R next to your name shouldn't shield you from anything.

starkd 4y ago

Exactly. The fact so many don't understand this is discouraging. Just because you support a particular candidate shouldn't mean it is ok, because it could very easily go against you on another occasion. There needs to be a uniform standard and accountability for this.

code_witch_sam 4y ago
what does a particular politician have to do with this? the "leak" literally said both the trump white house and the biden campaign lobbied to have posts removed i think it's kind of funny that the government is lobbying corporation now, rather than the other way around.
- runsWphotons 4y ago
  "lobbied". this is mob stuff!
- arminiusreturns 4y ago
  It's as if everyone parroting this line stopped reading at the "However": "10.Both parties had access to these tools. For instance, in 2020, requests from both the Trump White House and the Biden campaign were received and honored. However: 11. This system wasn't balanced. It was based on contacts. Because Twitter was and is overwhelmingly staffed by people of one political orientation, there were more channels, more ways to complain, open to the left (well, Democrats) than the right. https://t.co/sa1uVRNhuH https://t.co/sa1uVRNhuH 12. The resulting slant in content moderation decisions is visible in the documents you’re about to read. However, it’s also the assessment of multiple current and former high-level executives."
  - tonants 4y ago
    Obviously this community is very left leaning and they (used to?) love Elon. So really this is kind of funny to watch.
- starkd 4y ago
  You do know what this kind of government/corp collaboration is, don't you? It's literally the beginning of a fascist state. This is not hyperbole either, though I wish it was.

greenthrow 4y ago

What if the content is illegally obtained personal material of the politician's civilian family members?

Amezarak 4y ago
- myko 4y ago
  > situations involving prostitutes (sometimes underage) This is a lie, you should reconsider consuming information from wherever you picked this "fact" up.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
rhaksw 4y ago
IANAL but I believe the law says if the journalist didn't aid in whatever made obtaining it illegal, like hacking the data out, then they are clear to publish it. And that's what one Dem called for Twitter to write in its policy, according to the "Twitter files": https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598838041371516929/photo/1 https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598838041371516929/photo...
paconbork 4y ago
Then they can flag the offending post through twitter's reporting system like everyone else
partiallypro 4y ago
Twitter never shut down Wikileaks or other things in the interest of national security that involved civilians and government officials alike. They have allowed journalists to leak other similar stories from hacks constantly. The Panama Papers, etc were all mostly civilians. Twitter never censored that, except in China at the behest of the CCP. Which comes to the original point. No politician or political arm should have the power or influence to take something down they find unfavorable. I prefer not to live in a CCP like state where the "party" gets an edit button on everyone's thoughts.

kumarvvr 4y ago

But so does dark money in politics, which is worse than influencing twitter. Dark money flows to high impact mass distribution channels, and who knows what is truth and what is not, and the response is social media should not be asked to take down false or misleading content?

tomrod 4y ago

Nude pictures of an individual being distributed without consent isn't politically unfavorable -- its criminal in many places and obscene everywhere. The "laptop" story is a red herring for Trump's crimes and used to cover them up by making up a load of BS to give cover for Republican whataboutism. What I find surprising is the defense many HN commentators are giving to this propaganda, especially those that try to say silliness like "Biden was installed!" I'm neither Republican or Democrat -- I'm an equal opportunity cynic in relation to political parties -- and boy, has the GOP been taking advantage of that opportunity!

partiallypro 4y ago
The NY Post didn't post any nude photos, and they were banned. So, your talking point is nonsense. If you weren't a part of either party, wouldn't you want to...idk, crackdown on corruption in both parties? Seems that would be the non-partisan thing to do. Instead of saying "well, what Trump did was worse!" Both Trump and Biden should both be held responsible for any corruption. Hunter getting on the board of an energy company with no experience in the field, and then having email chains lending to a possibility of using his father's influence for business...seems like something worth reporting on and looking into. Just as Trump using his hotel chains to collect money from foreign diplomats should also be taken seriously and looked into, among the other terrible things he's done. Having a D or R next to your name shouldn't shield you from anything.