Are social media companies like Twitter and Facebook playing politics?

[Integrityrespec]

Twitter and Facebook recently made headlines by again banning republican/conservative posts on their respective websites. This isn't the first time this has happened. Since the controversy over the Biden's selling influence story and the testimony of 3 social media CEO's before aCongressional committee they have removed posts from the CBP head about the border wall controlling numbers of illegal crossings and drug seizures at the border. The question is. Is this politics? Is is censoring of free speech? The social media heads say it violates their rules. Yet, they do not remove questionable post from people such as Ayatollah Khomeini and the Ambassador of Malaysia who both have posted about the rights of Muslims to kill people in France for defaming Allah. Seems oddly biased. Is this political against Republican/Conservative party or is it an attempt to effect the outcome of he current election?

 

[RabidAlpaca]

They don't ban "republican/conservative" posts, as both platforms are filled to the brim with them. They remove certain posts that violate their terms of service, such as the intentional spreading of false information, especially misinformation that could hurt people. You could ask yourself why it always seems to be conservatives spreading false information. It's a private platform and they can do whatever they want. Your attempt to claim a violation of free speech shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the constitution and America's laws. Cry harder, you poor victim.

 

[iliveonramen]

Twitter and Facebook recently made headlines by again banning republican/conservative posts on their respective websites. This isn't the first time this has happened. Since the controversy over the Biden's selling influence story and the testimony of 3 social media CEO's before aCongressional committee they have removed posts from the CBP head about the border wall controlling numbers of illegal crossings and drug seizures at the border. The question is. Is this politics? Is is censoring of free speech? The social media heads say it violates their rules. Yet, they do not remove questionable post from people such as Ayatollah Khomeini and the Ambassador of Malaysia who both have posted about the rights of Muslims to kill people in France for defaming Allah. Seems oddly biased. Is this political against Republican/Conservative party or is it an attempt to effect the outcome of he current election?

I thought Conservatives were all about the rights of business owners....that being said. They aren't banning conservatives, they are banning the bat shit made up stuff that conservatives post.

No one has to facilitate the right getting it's pizza gate style crap to the rest of the world. Go back to 4chan or some other troll rich environment.

 

[d0gbreath]

Both of those platforms have been taken over by conservatives as disinformation outlets. The owners realize that if this continues, their sites are going to lose millions of members. That's not a business model that they are willing to suffer.

 

[ElChupacabra]

I thought Conservatives were all about the rights of business owners....that being said. They aren't banning conservatives, they are banning the bat shit made up stuff that conservatives post.

No one has to facilitate the right getting it's pizza gate style crap to the rest of the world. Go back to 4chan or some other troll rich environment.

What I'm disappointed to see is the lack of incentive by conservatives to not start up their own social media platform where they can set up ToS that best suit their purposes. Seems like a lot of time is wasted whinging rather than making something happen. Roger Ailes set up Fox News, so where's the conservative willing to do the same for social media?

 

[Moderate Right]

What I'm disappointed to see is the lack of incentive by conservatives to not start up their own social media platform where they can set up ToS that best suit their purposes. Seems like a lot of time is wasted whinging rather than making something happen. Roger Ailes set up Fox News, so where's the conservative willing to do the same for social media?

Yes. It is outrageous that they want to be the fact police. Everyone has their own set of "facts". To go against the first amendment just because you don't like someone else's facts is biased.

 

[ElChupacabra]

Yes. It is outrageous that they want to be the fact police. Everyone has their own set of "facts". To go against the first amendment just because you don't like someone else's facts is biased.

Where this gets interesting is the first amendment is about the government "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". Social media sites are not an extension of the government; they are private companies with their own policies as to how content is posted. Social media responses have been clumsy at best, and mainly because they're trying to prevent the perception of their brands being vehicles for misinformation. The type of content moderation required to make a social media site a source for reliable information is an undertaking they're not ready to do (effectively), and opens them up to claims of bias.

Conservatives and progressives have complained about censorship of their content on certain social media sites. From a business perspective, I'm not sure how much sense it makes to try and make a social media site one which provides only factual posts from its legions of users. I can see how certain forms of expression can be effectively moderated (through AI/ML software), but fact checking isn't that simple, and often requires context since data can be represented in a variety of ways. I don't envy social media company executives right now.

 

[d0gbreath]

What I'm disappointed to see is the lack of incentive by conservatives to not start up their own social media platform where they can set up ToS that best suit their purposes. Seems like a lot of time is wasted whinging rather than making something happen. Roger Ailes set up Fox News, so where's the conservative willing to do the same for social media?

They did that when the set up Parler. But, since no Liberals joined, they have nothing to do.

 

[ElChupacabra]

They did that when the set up Parler. But, since no Liberals joined, they have nothing to do.

If Wikipedia is correct, then they're up to 2.8 million users, so a suppose that's a start. Whether they can catch up to Facebook's 2.6 billion remains to be seen.

 

[CaughtInThe]

They don't ban "republican/conservative" posts, as both platforms are filled to the brim with them. They remove certain posts that violate their terms of service

Evidently republicans don't believe in private companies enforcing their own rules and regulations.

It's almost like they want to be Venezuela.

 

[d0gbreath]

If Wikipedia is correct, then they're up to 2.8 million users, so a suppose that's a start. Whether they can catch up to Facebook's 2.6 billion remains to be seen.

I deactivated my facebook account a week ago. In three more weeks, if I don't login, they say that they will delete it. It's like trying to quit the Mafia.

 

[ElChupacabra]

I deactivated my facebook account a week ago. In three more weeks, if I don't login, they say that they will delete it. It's like trying to quit the Mafia.

Yeah, seriously. They make you go through quite a few hoops to delete your account.