4 ms·

Seems obvious to me that this is so the government can force the platform to silence users who are critical of the government.

slg 1y ago
You're right, it seems obvious. Considering the number of self-professed "free speech absolutists" I have encountered on this site over the years, I'm surprised at how much benefit of the doubt others are giving this.
- Pxtl 1y ago
  I'm not. The last few years have made it very clear what the actual political goals of the VC-tech world are. I was as disappointed as anybody, but I'm not surprised anymore.
  - slg 1y ago
    I was trying to be more neutral, but after some thought, this isn't the time for that. My "surprise" was more than a bit sarcastic. Between this and the FCC going after Kimmel, now is the last chance I will give for anyone claiming to care about free speech to prove they weren't lying. There's no plausible deniability anymore, free speech is unambiguously under attack.
    - hshdhdhj4444 1y ago
      What’s even more hilarious are all the anti cancel culture warriors from the past few years going on about how the Kimmel situation isn’t cancel culture. Especially since this is probably the only incident in the last couple of decades where the cancelation was a result of the government threatening consequences unless a specific individual was not canceled.
      - lenkite 1y ago
        Cancel culture has been firmly adopted by all political sides now. It is simply too powerful and effective a weapon to be not used.
        slg 1y ago
        It is a pretty big difference when the left wing cancel culture is a grassroots efforts of the populace trying to enforce moral behavior versus the right wing cancel culture we are seeing today in which the government is the one exerting pressure and not the populace.
        Pxtl 1y ago
        Yup. It always comes back to "both sides are bad, so vote Republican". Dril said it best. https://x.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en https://x.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en
        coldtea 1y ago
        >is a grassroots efforts of the populace Oh, sweet summer child. It's as "grassroots" as the Cultural Revolution (party elites encouraging and directing mobilized workers and farmers to play out their power plays) was grassroot. The FBI and others telling Twitter what to censor, the goverment agencies threating companies to comply, academics and prestigious news media on lockstep, nebulous NGOs and "think tanks" suggesting what's fake news and what's not, tech behemoths collaborating, even banks having a go at it. In other words, it's as top down as the current Republican shit is.
    - zamadatix 1y ago
      I'm glad you finally agree free speech under attack. Now that the president/party in power has changed, it seems the comments have shifted from being that "I must be left wing" to "I must be right wing". Is there anything that will make you interested in free speech itself, or is it just an attack towards those you disagree with? People don't want to waste time in an internet debate with someone who starts off with an assumption of the latter, and you've already concluded you were being sarcastic in asking. The lack of interest in responding to you about it will only help drive your belief "the other people" are the only ones who claim to care about free speech.
      - slg 1y ago
        That is because the complaints about left wing threats to free speech are always incredibly dubious like the government asking social media sites to take down what was widely considered dangerous Covid misinformation or some random college professor saying people should use "Latinx". In comparison, the right wing attacks on free speech are like the FCC threatening people for mild jokes. Can you name anything the left wing has done that approaches what we just saw with Kimmel?
        zamadatix 1y ago
        The Biden administration started this whole TikTok thing in the first place, you just liked the platform at the time and are now getting bit in the ass when the group in power has changed. I'm not interested in which side is supposed to be worse than the other so someone can feel better about the speech they are okay with suppressing, I'm interested in free speech all the time. The Kimmel thing is indeed a stupid and dangerous attack on free speech, but you can't just wait until the speech under attack is about something you care for to declare that. It's already too late at that point, which is what many of the people you eagerly dismiss as just caring about right wing politics were trying to say.
        seanmcdirmid 1y ago
        > Biden started this whole TikTok thing in the first place No, Trump started it in his first term, Biden just continued it, as did Trump continue what he started.
- watwut 1y ago
  The thing is, self-professed "free speech absolutists" generally believe that only right with and nazi speech are the ones worthy of defense. Anybody else who is criticizing those, disagreeing with those or promoting other ideas is seen as threat to free speech. Self-professed "free speech absolutists" get really angry when left or anti right people speak or make the right uncomfortable.
  - philipallstar 1y ago
    No, this is just in your head. You might still have 40-year-old instincts from when the authoritarian right was in charge, both in institutions and in social norms, but it's been the authoritarian left for 20 years. Any discussion that engages in spreading stereotypes, rather than debating ideas, is just part of the problem.
    - watwut 1y ago
      It is authoritarian right right now destroying democracy in full speed. And it was like that all along, just a bit more hidden so that moderate right can pretend it is not happening all along.
    - Jackpillar 1y ago
      "Authoritarian left" We're cooked
      - philipallstar 1y ago
        Historically this is definitely what's killed the most people, but who knows - maybe this time it'll be different.
    - wyre 1y ago
      You're not making sense. People on the right actively spread stereotypes, racist cliches, and other antisocial, pro-violent opinions that they call the truth and won't budge on their opinion, but as soon as a leftist calls someone with actual authoritarian viewpoints a nazi they are the problem for spreading stereotypes and not debating ideas? lmfao
tdeck 1y ago
Particularly the Israeli government.
- nielsbot 1y ago
  Honestly curious how much of this is about stopping people from knowing what Israel (and the US by extension) are doing. Just in time for them to “finish the job” EDIT: Found this: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/tiktok-ban-fueled-by-israel-not-china https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/tiktok-ban-fueled-by-israe...
tempodox 1y ago
That, and boosting the influencers they want to be heard.

slg 1y ago

You're right, it seems obvious. Considering the number of self-professed "free speech absolutists" I have encountered on this site over the years, I'm surprised at how much benefit of the doubt others are giving this.

Pxtl 1y ago
I'm not. The last few years have made it very clear what the actual political goals of the VC-tech world are. I was as disappointed as anybody, but I'm not surprised anymore.
- slg 1y ago
  I was trying to be more neutral, but after some thought, this isn't the time for that. My "surprise" was more than a bit sarcastic. Between this and the FCC going after Kimmel, now is the last chance I will give for anyone claiming to care about free speech to prove they weren't lying. There's no plausible deniability anymore, free speech is unambiguously under attack.
  - hshdhdhj4444 1y ago
    What’s even more hilarious are all the anti cancel culture warriors from the past few years going on about how the Kimmel situation isn’t cancel culture. Especially since this is probably the only incident in the last couple of decades where the cancelation was a result of the government threatening consequences unless a specific individual was not canceled.
    - lenkite 1y ago
      Cancel culture has been firmly adopted by all political sides now. It is simply too powerful and effective a weapon to be not used.
      - slg 1y ago
        It is a pretty big difference when the left wing cancel culture is a grassroots efforts of the populace trying to enforce moral behavior versus the right wing cancel culture we are seeing today in which the government is the one exerting pressure and not the populace.
        Pxtl 1y ago
        Yup. It always comes back to "both sides are bad, so vote Republican". Dril said it best. https://x.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en https://x.com/dril/status/473265809079693312?lang=en
        coldtea 1y ago
        >is a grassroots efforts of the populace Oh, sweet summer child. It's as "grassroots" as the Cultural Revolution (party elites encouraging and directing mobilized workers and farmers to play out their power plays) was grassroot. The FBI and others telling Twitter what to censor, the goverment agencies threating companies to comply, academics and prestigious news media on lockstep, nebulous NGOs and "think tanks" suggesting what's fake news and what's not, tech behemoths collaborating, even banks having a go at it. In other words, it's as top down as the current Republican shit is.
  - zamadatix 1y ago
    I'm glad you finally agree free speech under attack. Now that the president/party in power has changed, it seems the comments have shifted from being that "I must be left wing" to "I must be right wing". Is there anything that will make you interested in free speech itself, or is it just an attack towards those you disagree with? People don't want to waste time in an internet debate with someone who starts off with an assumption of the latter, and you've already concluded you were being sarcastic in asking. The lack of interest in responding to you about it will only help drive your belief "the other people" are the only ones who claim to care about free speech.
    - slg 1y ago
      That is because the complaints about left wing threats to free speech are always incredibly dubious like the government asking social media sites to take down what was widely considered dangerous Covid misinformation or some random college professor saying people should use "Latinx". In comparison, the right wing attacks on free speech are like the FCC threatening people for mild jokes. Can you name anything the left wing has done that approaches what we just saw with Kimmel?
      - zamadatix 1y ago
        The Biden administration started this whole TikTok thing in the first place, you just liked the platform at the time and are now getting bit in the ass when the group in power has changed. I'm not interested in which side is supposed to be worse than the other so someone can feel better about the speech they are okay with suppressing, I'm interested in free speech all the time. The Kimmel thing is indeed a stupid and dangerous attack on free speech, but you can't just wait until the speech under attack is about something you care for to declare that. It's already too late at that point, which is what many of the people you eagerly dismiss as just caring about right wing politics were trying to say.
        seanmcdirmid 1y ago
        > Biden started this whole TikTok thing in the first place No, Trump started it in his first term, Biden just continued it, as did Trump continue what he started.
watwut 1y ago
The thing is, self-professed "free speech absolutists" generally believe that only right with and nazi speech are the ones worthy of defense. Anybody else who is criticizing those, disagreeing with those or promoting other ideas is seen as threat to free speech. Self-professed "free speech absolutists" get really angry when left or anti right people speak or make the right uncomfortable.
- philipallstar 1y ago
  No, this is just in your head. You might still have 40-year-old instincts from when the authoritarian right was in charge, both in institutions and in social norms, but it's been the authoritarian left for 20 years. Any discussion that engages in spreading stereotypes, rather than debating ideas, is just part of the problem.
  - watwut 1y ago
    It is authoritarian right right now destroying democracy in full speed. And it was like that all along, just a bit more hidden so that moderate right can pretend it is not happening all along.
  - Jackpillar 1y ago
    "Authoritarian left" We're cooked
    - philipallstar 1y ago
      Historically this is definitely what's killed the most people, but who knows - maybe this time it'll be different.
  - wyre 1y ago
    You're not making sense. People on the right actively spread stereotypes, racist cliches, and other antisocial, pro-violent opinions that they call the truth and won't budge on their opinion, but as soon as a leftist calls someone with actual authoritarian viewpoints a nazi they are the problem for spreading stereotypes and not debating ideas? lmfao

tdeck 1y ago

Particularly the Israeli government.

nielsbot 1y ago
Honestly curious how much of this is about stopping people from knowing what Israel (and the US by extension) are doing. Just in time for them to “finish the job” EDIT: Found this: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/tiktok-ban-fueled-by-israel-not-china https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/tiktok-ban-fueled-by-israe...

tempodox 1y ago

That, and boosting the influencers they want to be heard.