8 ms·

Meta Ending Suspension of Trump’s Accounts

88 points by ipozgaj 4y ago

ss108 4y ago
Sounds like they deliberately want to help him win again in 2024.
bediger4000 4y ago
Shows very openly that The Elite are treated differently than ordinary, middle or lower class people.
bowmessage 4y ago
Meta finally realizing that folks will happily migrate to other platforms to read what they are interested in. I wonder if they'll change their stance on censorship of certain medical information next?
- treeman79 4y ago
  [flagged]
- lern_too_spel 4y ago
  Did they realize this two years ago when they said that the suspension would last two years? https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-response-to-oversight-board-recommendations-trump/ https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-response-to-overs... If you got this wrong, consider if you got your medical knowledge wrong too. Try talking to your doctor for medical advice.
  - hgsgm 4y ago
    What a bizarre choice. Why 2 years? to guarantee one election cycle without Trump trying to void the election and lead a army to ransack the Capitol ?
    - aegis4244 4y ago
      He didn't lead that army. The secret service wouldn't drive him there. He directed them to the capital and then cheered them on though.
rvz 4y ago
[flagged]
- CamperBob2 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - fullmoon 4y ago
    When writing those witty comparisons, do you ever stop and think about the millions of human beings that were murdered by actual fascism, or do you pretend that you actually give a damn and are fighting an internet fight against fascism?
    - dang 4y ago
      Please don't take HN threads further into flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - rvz 4y ago
    > Those of us who don't work for Meta or Twitter will continue to keep a weather eye out for fascism and those who carry water for it. What 'fascism' exactly? I don't think you know what that word means or even explain what that word is.
  - dang 4y ago
    Please don't take HN threads into repetitive, ideological flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - CamperBob2 4y ago
      And the reason you sent this message time and not the person I responded to is...?
thinking4real 4y ago
“The public should be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed choices.” Oh that’s hilarious. After tech companies stifling a sitting president, now they are going to straight faced claim this like it means a damn thing. This is insulting to users’ intelligence.
- papito 4y ago
  The HackerNews crowd really needs to figure out how to deal with the cognitive dissonance of "the business can do no wrong while chasing the profits" and "but ma' freedoms".
- stonogo 4y ago
  Is it so hard to believe that this argument eventually actually prevailed within the organization?
  - NtochkaNzvanova 4y ago
    Yes? I'd speculate the discussion in fact went something like this: 1. Trump supporters have been made an example of by keeping a bunch of them in jail for years for the crime of walking through a building; 2. There are enough court cases and grand juries outstanding against Trump that one of them will eventually get him and he'll be banned from running again; 3. In any case, a plausible primary rival for Trump has emerged (DeSantis) who has enough flaws of his own (anti-vaxx, anti-woke) that we can use him as a punching bag for the next few years; 4. Trump was allowed back on Twitter but is still playing on his own platform; Therefore: We can safely win some PR points by pretending to give a crap about freedom of expression by letting Trump back on our platform.
    - stonogo 4y ago
      >the crime of walking through a building; Why are you introducing inflammatory irrelevant misreprentations of the facts instead of addressing the point of my question?
lazzlazzlazz 4y ago
It was insane that this ever happened, honestly. I'm interested to hear what history decides, but it's hard to sympathize with.
- cma 4y ago
  Didn't he break rules normal people would be banned for?
  - mc32 4y ago
    Well, at least Twitter did have a rule which allowed people the US gov't had on sanctions list to have accounts. As well we had other heads of state protest bans on other heads of state.
  - Jordrok 4y ago
    Absolutely. Any other normal person would have had their account permanently banned with no recourse.
    - disgruntledphd2 4y ago
      He should have been banned for his Mexicans speech in 2016, according to Facebooks own rules.
- atkailash 4y ago
  [dead]
- peterashford 4y ago
  Obviously, your intuition differs, but my view (as a New Zealander) is that Trump absolutely broke the terms of use of the platforms he was on and deserved being banned. Free speech means that you can't be imprisoned for your political views, not that everyone owes you a platform.
  - blockwriter 4y ago
advisedwang 4y ago
I wonder how much of this is fear that Facebook won't be able to maintain views throughout the 2024 election cycle if users are forced to other platforms to follow Trump.
Luciatrutth 4y ago
[dead]
steponlego 4y ago
I'm not ending my suspension of Meta though. Sorry, Meta.
petodo 4y ago
[flagged]
- amanaplanacanal 4y ago
  Is hating someone who tried to overthrow an election and seize power for himself radical now? Maybe this really is the worst timeline.
  - petodo 4y ago
    Hate requires energy, Biden, Fauci, Trump, XJP, Zelensky, Putin or whatever idiot is not worth my hate. So yes, if you have nothing better to do than hate person you never met in your life and who never personally did anything to you other than some intepretation spread by your favorite MSM, you are radical by my standards. I could understand someone who harmed you or your family, but hating some distant politician looks quite immature. And the problem is not really even that these people hate him, they can have whatever opinion they want or even hate him, the problem is that they project their hate even here in what should be civil discussion forum on users with different opinion, so much for "democrats" who can't stand different opinion and downvote/censor any opposing views.

88 points by ipozgaj 4y ago

ss108 4y ago

Sounds like they deliberately want to help him win again in 2024.

bediger4000 4y ago

Shows very openly that The Elite are treated differently than ordinary, middle or lower class people.

bowmessage 4y ago

Meta finally realizing that folks will happily migrate to other platforms to read what they are interested in. I wonder if they'll change their stance on censorship of certain medical information next?

treeman79 4y ago
[flagged]
lern_too_spel 4y ago
Did they realize this two years ago when they said that the suspension would last two years? https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-response-to-oversight-board-recommendations-trump/ https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-response-to-overs... If you got this wrong, consider if you got your medical knowledge wrong too. Try talking to your doctor for medical advice.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  What a bizarre choice. Why 2 years? to guarantee one election cycle without Trump trying to void the election and lead a army to ransack the Capitol ?
  - aegis4244 4y ago
    He didn't lead that army. The secret service wouldn't drive him there. He directed them to the capital and then cheered them on though.

rvz 4y ago

[flagged]

CamperBob2 4y ago
[flagged]
- fullmoon 4y ago
  When writing those witty comparisons, do you ever stop and think about the millions of human beings that were murdered by actual fascism, or do you pretend that you actually give a damn and are fighting an internet fight against fascism?
  - dang 4y ago
    Please don't take HN threads further into flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- rvz 4y ago
  > Those of us who don't work for Meta or Twitter will continue to keep a weather eye out for fascism and those who carry water for it. What 'fascism' exactly? I don't think you know what that word means or even explain what that word is.
- dang 4y ago
  Please don't take HN threads into repetitive, ideological flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - CamperBob2 4y ago
    And the reason you sent this message time and not the person I responded to is...?

thinking4real 4y ago

“The public should be able to hear what politicians are saying so they can make informed choices.” Oh that’s hilarious. After tech companies stifling a sitting president, now they are going to straight faced claim this like it means a damn thing. This is insulting to users’ intelligence.

papito 4y ago
The HackerNews crowd really needs to figure out how to deal with the cognitive dissonance of "the business can do no wrong while chasing the profits" and "but ma' freedoms".
stonogo 4y ago
Is it so hard to believe that this argument eventually actually prevailed within the organization?
- NtochkaNzvanova 4y ago
  Yes? I'd speculate the discussion in fact went something like this: 1. Trump supporters have been made an example of by keeping a bunch of them in jail for years for the crime of walking through a building; 2. There are enough court cases and grand juries outstanding against Trump that one of them will eventually get him and he'll be banned from running again; 3. In any case, a plausible primary rival for Trump has emerged (DeSantis) who has enough flaws of his own (anti-vaxx, anti-woke) that we can use him as a punching bag for the next few years; 4. Trump was allowed back on Twitter but is still playing on his own platform; Therefore: We can safely win some PR points by pretending to give a crap about freedom of expression by letting Trump back on our platform.
  - stonogo 4y ago
    >the crime of walking through a building; Why are you introducing inflammatory irrelevant misreprentations of the facts instead of addressing the point of my question?

lazzlazzlazz 4y ago

It was insane that this ever happened, honestly. I'm interested to hear what history decides, but it's hard to sympathize with.

cma 4y ago
Didn't he break rules normal people would be banned for?
- mc32 4y ago
  Well, at least Twitter did have a rule which allowed people the US gov't had on sanctions list to have accounts. As well we had other heads of state protest bans on other heads of state.
- Jordrok 4y ago
  Absolutely. Any other normal person would have had their account permanently banned with no recourse.
  - disgruntledphd2 4y ago
    He should have been banned for his Mexicans speech in 2016, according to Facebooks own rules.
atkailash 4y ago
[dead]
peterashford 4y ago
Obviously, your intuition differs, but my view (as a New Zealander) is that Trump absolutely broke the terms of use of the platforms he was on and deserved being banned. Free speech means that you can't be imprisoned for your political views, not that everyone owes you a platform.
- blockwriter 4y ago

advisedwang 4y ago

I wonder how much of this is fear that Facebook won't be able to maintain views throughout the 2024 election cycle if users are forced to other platforms to follow Trump.

Luciatrutth 4y ago

[dead]

steponlego 4y ago

I'm not ending my suspension of Meta though. Sorry, Meta.

petodo 4y ago

[flagged]

amanaplanacanal 4y ago
Is hating someone who tried to overthrow an election and seize power for himself radical now? Maybe this really is the worst timeline.
- petodo 4y ago
  Hate requires energy, Biden, Fauci, Trump, XJP, Zelensky, Putin or whatever idiot is not worth my hate. So yes, if you have nothing better to do than hate person you never met in your life and who never personally did anything to you other than some intepretation spread by your favorite MSM, you are radical by my standards. I could understand someone who harmed you or your family, but hating some distant politician looks quite immature. And the problem is not really even that these people hate him, they can have whatever opinion they want or even hate him, the problem is that they project their hate even here in what should be civil discussion forum on users with different opinion, so much for "democrats" who can't stand different opinion and downvote/censor any opposing views.