US Politics

Always worth watching.

"armed protest" LOL at that euphemism

Absolutely.

This is a bit strange -> https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-european-leaders-question-twitter-donald-trump-ban/

“The fundamental right [of freedom of expression] can be interfered with, but along the lines of the law and within the framework defined by the lawmakers. Not according to the decision of the management of social media platforms,” government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said.

Still, “The German government is convinced that social network operators bear a very high level of responsibility ... for ensuring that political communication is not poisoned by hatred, by lies, by incitement to violence,” Seibert added.

So which is it? Let the orange idiot promote lies, violence and hatred or de-platform him? I don't see how politicians can have it both ways; we've got adequate proof that just telling the truth doesn't undo the damage done by people like Trump.

For years the gun lobby’s whole raison d’etre is that citizens owning huge numbers or weapons is necessary to ensure that they could overthrow a despotic government should one arise.

The gun lobby's raison d'etre is selling more guns. The why and how is secondary.

The involvement Russian money in NRA funding is a fun twist though.

the victim, Connie Swail

Don't you mean "the Virgin, Connie Swail"?

*looks to camera*

*dun-duh-duh-dun*

I do agree that de-platforming Trump is not a great move. Obviously it was his decision but he used Twitter as his mouthpiece throughout his presidency, so although it's a private company and they can do what they want it is still silencing him.

I would have liked to see Twitter actually uphold their rules in regard to his tweets - allow him to stay on the platform but rigorously vet his tweets and keep removing them and or suspending his account until he either falls into line or they have a big body of evidence to show why his account is being removed.

Agree that free speech policies should be set by politicians / lawmakers rather than private companies. The problem is that politics / law moves too slow for an event like this. It's not an easy nut to crack. I think @Bainbridge has a good point. Let twitter remove individual tweets but not the account itself

Raises eybrow

I assume the argument is that it's OK to de-platform him but there should be rules in place beyond twitter or facebook or whoever just making the decision themselves.

not de-platforming trump etc legitimises their opinions by suggesting they are commensurate with anti-fascist sentiment by sheer virtue of the fact that they share a platform. the fact that trump wasn't hoofed off 2 years ago should make anyone question jack fucking dorsey's motivations.

Thinking back, about Parler, it seems that poor security on Parler is the only thing the QAnon people ever predicted correctly

Ron Watkins, the administrator of the 8kun website where QAnon’s anonymous leader posts updates, has repeatedly railed against the site’s security and on Wednesday and Thursday posted multiple tweets highlighting these problems.

He’s just attempted a coup, not called someone a twat.

I assume the argument is that it's OK to de-platform him but there should be rules in place beyond twitter or facebook or whoever just making the decision themselves.

Why? They're not state owned and Twitter isn't a right like water, shelter, food or electricity. He's clearly been telling lies and fomenting insurrection/violence. If you or I did the latter we'd have been visited by the police, not just had our accounts locked. As @greenhell says, it's years overdue and FB/Twitter are only doing it now as Bidens team have already said they're going to regulate internet "publishers" (which is going to be a problem for all kinds of companies involved in the sector, not just "big tech").

the fact that trump wasn't hoofed off 2 years ago should make anyone question jack fucking dorsey's motivations.

I found it quite telling that Jack Dorsey was consulting people like Ali Alexander for advice on whether Alex Jones should be banned. I don't think Dorsey is quite as liberal as a lot of upset right wingers say he is.

The gun lobby's raison d'etre is selling more guns. The why and how is secondary.

This is true, 'lobby' was the wrong word, more the NRA supporting types that buy heavily into the sanctity of the second amendment. And while they are a tiny minority, there's still absolutely tonnes of them.

I don't think anyone's questioning the de-platforming of Trump, rather the fact that a private company did instead of a regulation

He has an entire apparatus to be able to communicate. TV stations, radio, newspapers. If he was so concerned about being unable to communicate perhaps he'd have stood in the WH press room over the last few days rather than hiding away.

to be fair - zuckerberg is a million times worse. his relationship with Joel Kaplan is fucking worrying.

delete all this shit.

100% this ^^.

Yep, being silenced and being silent are different things.

I was questioning the de-platforming but he's been able to spout his bullshit on Twitter for years without it being checked, because twitter was living the increased traffic that he brings.

Twitter is being used as a loudspeaker for people in positions of power, and therefore they have to bear some responsibility for the content of those messages, as would a newspaper.

The whole publisher vs platform thing is why they've been tied in knots about Trump and the like.

Is it not just a case of Trump violating their terms of service, that he agreed to when he signed up? He's not had his freedom of speech taken away - he's free to use any service that is willing to serve him. Surely it would only become a freedom of speech issue if the law intervened?

Is twitter not like a big megaphone (to use a crude analogy). Taking a megaphone away from someone does not silence them, it just makes them quieter.

If someone wants to print a book denying the Holocaust, that is within their right to free speech, but a printer is not violating their human rights by refusing to print that book.

Or if someone loves smearing shit all over themselves, fine to do it at home, but if you start doing it in Littlechef you'll probably be refused service.

Until there are state ran social media platforms that are regulated and policed by governments, with direct accountability for ones actions/statements, nothing will change and we will continue to allow private companies to dictate the playing field.

But there in lies the catch 22 scenario. Do you want a platform where you can legitimately be prosecuted for your actions but not censored, or a platform that decide when enough is enough. Twitter is not a free speech/freedom of expression platform if you have to sign their user agreement to access it.