4 ms·

So a US based company, operating under US law, is responsible to use its US based platform and employees to decide how users in a totally different country use

So a US based company, operating under US law, is responsible to use its US based platform and employees to decide how users in a totally different country use the internet? If you're gonna support the British Empire, fine, be my guest, but be aware that this is pretty close to noblest oblige views of colonialim

joshuaissac 4y ago
> So a US based company, operating under US law When Facebook operates in Ethiopia, it is expected to follow Ethiopian law. > If you're gonna support the British Empire [...] this is pretty close to noblest oblige views of colonialim The British Empire has forced subjugated countries to recognise a concept of extraterritoriality for British merchants operating in those countries, where they would not be subjected to local laws. But the US has not made such an agreement with Ethiopia about Facebook. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterritoriality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterritoriality
- Manuel_D 4y ago
  So Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries could make Facebook either withdraw from the region or ban all expressions of homosexuality worldwide? Facebook can, and should, tell those countries to fuck off and build their own Great Firewall if they want to.
  - joshuaissac 4y ago
    Facebook is being sued for allowing its platform to be used to incite and facilitate murders in Ethiopia. If they want to do the same in another country where it is legal, Ethiopian law does not forbid them. Similarly, EU laws that restrict the sale of firearms do not apply to Facebook Marketplace in the US, only to the EU. If they allow firearms to be sold on Facebook Marketplace in the EU, they will face prosecution, even though they are based in the US. Facebook can decide to ignore local laws, in the Middle East or anywhere else, whether they apply locally or globally, but if they ignore laws in a jurisdiction where they have assets or revenue, then legal judgements against them can be enforced. That is what is happening here.
- subradios 4y ago
  Ethiopia is currently involved in a civil war between two ethnic groups, with all of the base brutality that entails. You're not addressing the point, which is what right do American Executives from California have to decide on the rights of Ethiopians to speak. Additionally, even if such postings were illegal, this assumes that the government was not currently on one side of a civil war. You're expecting a level of nuance and decision making about events that are so far out of a social media company's understanding and frankly, ability that I'm pretty sure you're just excited someone is suing Facebook. From FBs perspective, there aren't a lot of principled stances and even if they do take one, there will still be a million hackernews comments about how FB is responsible for bad thing.

joshuaissac 4y ago

> So a US based company, operating under US law When Facebook operates in Ethiopia, it is expected to follow Ethiopian law. > If you're gonna support the British Empire [...] this is pretty close to noblest oblige views of colonialim The British Empire has forced subjugated countries to recognise a concept of extraterritoriality for British merchants operating in those countries, where they would not be subjected to local laws. But the US has not made such an agreement with Ethiopia about Facebook. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterritoriality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterritoriality

Manuel_D 4y ago
So Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries could make Facebook either withdraw from the region or ban all expressions of homosexuality worldwide? Facebook can, and should, tell those countries to fuck off and build their own Great Firewall if they want to.
- joshuaissac 4y ago
  Facebook is being sued for allowing its platform to be used to incite and facilitate murders in Ethiopia. If they want to do the same in another country where it is legal, Ethiopian law does not forbid them. Similarly, EU laws that restrict the sale of firearms do not apply to Facebook Marketplace in the US, only to the EU. If they allow firearms to be sold on Facebook Marketplace in the EU, they will face prosecution, even though they are based in the US. Facebook can decide to ignore local laws, in the Middle East or anywhere else, whether they apply locally or globally, but if they ignore laws in a jurisdiction where they have assets or revenue, then legal judgements against them can be enforced. That is what is happening here.
subradios 4y ago
Ethiopia is currently involved in a civil war between two ethnic groups, with all of the base brutality that entails. You're not addressing the point, which is what right do American Executives from California have to decide on the rights of Ethiopians to speak. Additionally, even if such postings were illegal, this assumes that the government was not currently on one side of a civil war. You're expecting a level of nuance and decision making about events that are so far out of a social media company's understanding and frankly, ability that I'm pretty sure you're just excited someone is suing Facebook. From FBs perspective, there aren't a lot of principled stances and even if they do take one, there will still be a million hackernews comments about how FB is responsible for bad thing.