50 votes

Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

49 comments

  1. [4]
    arghdos
    Link
    Given that these actions from Twitter/FB/et al. are too little, done only when the door is about to hit his ass on the way out... and that the President literally has a room in his office that he...

    Given that these actions from Twitter/FB/et al. are too little, done only when the door is about to hit his ass on the way out... and that the President literally has a room in his office that he can deliver messages across the world at anytime he wants (if he were the type of person to do Whitehouse press conferences).

    But it’s still not great that the unelected officials running these platforms (Zuck, Dorsey, etc.) can make decisions like this. There’s no questioning their legal right to do so (First amendment doesn’t even begin to apply), and one could argue that these platforms should never have been the host to “important” public discourse due to their monetization incentives running counter to the public good. But still the fact remains that Dorsey and Zuckerberg are in some respects, more powerful and able to take action than the sitting US Congress. Given the current occupants of that body, it’s no great loss at the moment, but as we continue into the age of algorithmically enhanced speech, markets and politics... it’s more than a bit problematic that the people who stand to benefit the most from doing as little as possible to maintain their highly profitable status quo (which let us all remember, was to make money being the platform that powered the radicalization of the Q crowd) has more ability to restrain the President than the legislative arm of the United States government...

    19 votes
    1. [3]
      stu2b50
      Link Parent
      To be honest, I don't think this has anything to do with any issues with #BigTech. The first angle you can come at it from is that certain sites are too big, and have too much influence - by being...

      To be honest, I don't think this has anything to do with any issues with #BigTech. The first angle you can come at it from is that certain sites are too big, and have too much influence - by being banned, you are greatly damaged more than in a world where there are many sites. And that might be true, but only with the Zuck empire - but Trump doesn't give a fuck about FB and instagram, he rarely uses either of them. Like that is an issue, but it does not come into play here.

      And Twitter is not actually very big! Even under the very generous assumption that everyone in the US that has a Twitter account, is actively using it, and isn't someone's alt account, only 22% of US adults use Twitter. And the reality is that number is an upper bound.

      It just seems big because the President of the United States decided to use it as his personal newswire instead of, y'know, the actual newswires he has access to, and the entire ORGANIZATION in the White House dedicated to broadcasting presidential news.

      The other angle is that while they legally can ban people without oversight right, they shouldn't... but that sounds ridiculous. If Twitter wants to ban someone they have to like submit a petition to the government? Does anyone, either right or left, actually want that to be the case?

      8 votes
      1. [2]
        unknown user
        Link Parent
        I think this is an issue with #BigTech, but not in a first amendment or free-speech sense. Rather, if you end up having platforms that are so dominant it raises these questions, then in my view...

        I think this is an issue with #BigTech, but not in a first amendment or free-speech sense. Rather, if you end up having platforms that are so dominant it raises these questions, then in my view the answer is stronger antitrust penalties and federal regulation around mergers and acquisitions; and forced-breakups when companies become too large. Companies don't need to be big. The vast, vast majority of companies aren't. It's just you have a small subset of investors who fall into the "growth-obsessed venture capitalist" bucket that want to generate unicorns, and this mindset has become a lot more prevalent recently.

        Just as Facebook shouldn't have been allowed to acquire WhatsApp or Instagram to consolidate and grow their power, they shouldn't be allowed to vacuum up small new social networks to maintain dominance. Another one: Google shouldn't have been allowed to use their dominance in web search to force their way into dominance in advertising and browser share. Finally: Apple should be required to allow third party payment processors that meet Apple's standards on the App Store, and allow side-loading.

        If you can remove these problems, then the chance of any one platform becoming a quasi-censorship problem is diminished because you've distributed the power each platform has amongst many platforms. And if you somehow manage to get banned from all of them, then yeah, perhaps it is your fault.

        7 votes
        1. stu2b50
          Link Parent
          But that's why I don't think THIS is an issue with #BigTech, because all the heat is on Twitter, since Trump doesn't actually really use Facebook or Instagram. But he IS a weirdo Twitter addict,...

          But that's why I don't think THIS is an issue with #BigTech, because all the heat is on Twitter, since Trump doesn't actually really use Facebook or Instagram. But he IS a weirdo Twitter addict, so being banned is a big blow to him.

          But I don't think there's any argument that Twitter, a small, very much minority share social media, banning Trump is in some way wrong. They're not anywhere near a monopoly, and they're not that big. Furthermore, the US government is never going to tell Twitter who they can ban - that would be an actual 1st amendment issue.

          There is, perhaps, an issue with the power of the Zuck empire, and deplatforming is one of those powers, but it is not in effect here.

          5 votes
  2. etiolation
    Link
    A reminder that he used his final tweets to promise his followers will be shielded and to blow the trumpet of white nationalism once again. A history of the "America First" phrase.

    A reminder that he used his final tweets to promise his followers will be shielded and to blow the trumpet of white nationalism once again.

    The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!

    A history of the "America First" phrase.

    12 votes
  3. [3]
    NoblePath
    Link
    Why is @Potus not suspended (or is it) and why isn’t Trump using it?

    Why is @Potus not suspended (or is it) and why isn’t Trump using it?

    1 vote
    1. Omnicrola
      Link Parent
      Not suspended, but they did remove tweets he posted in an attempt to circumvent the suspension of his personal account.

      Not suspended, but they did remove tweets he posted in an attempt to circumvent the suspension of his personal account.

      6 votes
    2. drannex
      Link Parent
      POTUS is an official US government account. They did attempt to use it to blast off a few messages after rDT was suspended, but those messages were removed within thirty seconds of publishing as...

      POTUS is an official US government account. They did attempt to use it to blast off a few messages after rDT was suspended, but those messages were removed within thirty seconds of publishing as they used inciting language.

      5 votes
  4. drannex
    Link
    Good riddance.

    Good riddance.

    3 votes
  5. Grimalkin
    Link
    Way past time, but glad it happened finally.

    Way past time, but glad it happened finally.

    3 votes
  6. [5]
    Sand
    Link
    Did this thread get unlisted or something? It's not showing up on my page.

    Did this thread get unlisted or something? It's not showing up on my page.

    1. cfabbro
      Link Parent
      Showing up for me. Maybe you're unsubscribed from ~news, or filtered "politics" or something?

      Showing up for me. Maybe you're unsubscribed from ~news, or filtered "politics" or something?

      4 votes
    2. [3]
      Amarok
      Link Parent
      I see it. Did you accidentally ignore it? That's in the dropdown box at the lower left of every submission on the main view, under 'Actions.'

      I see it. Did you accidentally ignore it? That's in the dropdown box at the lower left of every submission on the main view, under 'Actions.'

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        Sand
        Link Parent
        No, turns out it got tag filtered. My bad.

        No, turns out it got tag filtered. My bad.

        5 votes
        1. Amarok
          Link Parent
          Aha, the lurking danger of old filters strikes again. :)

          Aha, the lurking danger of old filters strikes again. :)

          7 votes
  7. [33]
    Comment removed by site admin
    Link
    1. [26]
      Amarok
      Link Parent
      Welp, here we go. I have a hunch he might go into rampage mode, if this has pissed him off. Nothing fires up a troll like being banned. How in hell did he sign up while it was so slow? I haven't...

      Welp, here we go. I have a hunch he might go into rampage mode, if this has pissed him off. Nothing fires up a troll like being banned. How in hell did he sign up while it was so slow? I haven't even been able to sign up yet. :P

      6 votes
      1. [25]
        NaraVara
        Link Parent
        It's probable someone had already set up an account for him waiting to be activated. But Parler's about to get kicked from the app store which will put a damper on their reach and ability to...

        It's probable someone had already set up an account for him waiting to be activated.

        But Parler's about to get kicked from the app store which will put a damper on their reach and ability to monetize the rubes on the platform.

        22 votes
        1. [24]
          Amarok
          Link Parent
          Somehow, I doubt that'll slow his supporters down for one second. They do have a web browser on those phones. Trumpers may not be able to figure out how to use one, but it is there...

          Somehow, I doubt that'll slow his supporters down for one second. They do have a web browser on those phones. Trumpers may not be able to figure out how to use one, but it is there...

          4 votes
          1. [20]
            cfabbro
            Link Parent
            People are inherently lazy though. With every barrier to entry they encounter, no matter how small or mildly inconvenient, a huge portion of them give up. It's one of the reasons why deplatforming...

            People are inherently lazy though. With every barrier to entry they encounter, no matter how small or mildly inconvenient, a huge portion of them give up. It's one of the reasons why deplatforming works.

            32 votes
            1. [18]
              Amarok
              Link Parent
              I hope you're right. I have a feeling the old voat crowd will start flocking there instantly if they know he has an account. Parler's poor servers might not even be able to take it, could be down...

              I hope you're right. I have a feeling the old voat crowd will start flocking there instantly if they know he has an account. Parler's poor servers might not even be able to take it, could be down for a while.

              Don't they still teach *nix in college? Why are all these services so fragile? I'd wear a brown paper bag over my head on principle for a week if servers under my watch were down this much.

              6 votes
              1. [5]
                cfabbro
                Link Parent
                There will always be a hardcore group that will migrate to the latest hatespeech friendly platform no matter the barriers, but the proof is in the pudding when it comes to raw numbers. E.g. Funny...

                There will always be a hardcore group that will migrate to the latest hatespeech friendly platform no matter the barriers, but the proof is in the pudding when it comes to raw numbers. E.g. Funny you should mention voat, since all the communities that were recreated there when they were banned on reddit only ever managed to grow to a tiny fraction of the size of the originals.

                19 votes
                1. [4]
                  whbboyd
                  Link Parent
                  Also, lest we forget, voat died last month.

                  Also, lest we forget, voat died last month.

                  12 votes
                  1. [3]
                    Amarok
                    Link Parent
                    That really seems to be their challenge, doesn't it? None of these alternative forums seem to be able to scale at all, or even sustain themselves for more than a couple of years. At some point...

                    That really seems to be their challenge, doesn't it? None of these alternative forums seem to be able to scale at all, or even sustain themselves for more than a couple of years. At some point Tildes is going to be the old man of the new forums.

                    7 votes
                    1. [3]
                      Comment deleted by author
                      Link Parent
                      1. [2]
                        skybrian
                        Link Parent
                        The Mastodon instance I was on (cmpwn.com) mysteriously disappeared without notice sometime late last year. It was run by Drew DeVault. (I signed up because I saw a message on Hacker News and...

                        The Mastodon instance I was on (cmpwn.com) mysteriously disappeared without notice sometime late last year. It was run by Drew DeVault. (I signed up because I saw a message on Hacker News and didn’t know who he was at the time.)

                        I guess he got bored, or something? I wasn’t using it much, but still.

                        1 vote
                        1. admicos
                          Link Parent
                          I recall him saying hosting Mastodon was too much of a burden and took a lot of server resources (I think disk space was the particular issue he was focused on). Obviously I can't post the exact...

                          I recall him saying hosting Mastodon was too much of a burden and took a lot of server resources (I think disk space was the particular issue he was focused on). Obviously I can't post the exact messages because the instance is gone, but as someone who used to self-host Mastodon I totally agree with him on how much of a pain Mastodon is to host.

                          4 votes
              2. Whom
                Link Parent
                This probably will happen, and I'm sure tons will go to Parler. It's not that a lot of people won't still go there, it's that it'll be much less than the infinitely larger userbase of Twitter....

                I have a feeling the old voat crowd will start flocking there instantly if they know he has an account.

                This probably will happen, and I'm sure tons will go to Parler. It's not that a lot of people won't still go there, it's that it'll be much less than the infinitely larger userbase of Twitter.

                Deplatforming is effective...but not that effective, especially when you're still the president of the united states.

                9 votes
              3. [4]
                Micycle_the_Bichael
                Link Parent
                Got a degree in CS and worked in the industry for 3 years before anyone mentioned the concept of SSH and that was what dipped my toes into *nix. Our whole department was also 2 profs big so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                Got a degree in CS and worked in the industry for 3 years before anyone mentioned the concept of SSH and that was what dipped my toes into *nix. Our whole department was also 2 profs big so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                6 votes
                1. [4]
                  Comment deleted by author
                  Link Parent
                  1. [3]
                    Micycle_the_Bichael
                    Link Parent
                    Nah. Gots me a liberal arts education at a small school in Ohio.

                    Nah. Gots me a liberal arts education at a small school in Ohio.

                    2 votes
                    1. [2]
                      hhh
                      Link Parent
                      kenyon college?

                      kenyon college?

                      1. Micycle_the_Bichael
                        Link Parent
                        Revealing if I was a Lord is a bit too fine-detailed for me to feel comfortable announcing given some of the other details I’ve posted here before ;)

                        Revealing if I was a Lord is a bit too fine-detailed for me to feel comfortable announcing given some of the other details I’ve posted here before ;)

                        1 vote
              4. [2]
                streblo
                Link Parent
                I’m not familiar with their funding but I wouldn’t be surprised if the advertising income is next to nothing and they have to rely on donations and wealthy donors to stay alive? In that case you...

                I’m not familiar with their funding but I wouldn’t be surprised if the advertising income is next to nothing and they have to rely on donations and wealthy donors to stay alive?

                In that case you can scale and scale until your budget goes poof and then you can’t.

                1. stu2b50
                  Link Parent
                  Parler is backed by the Mercer family, a rich conservative donor. It clearly exists as an apparatus to extend their reach, not as an actual product.

                  Parler is backed by the Mercer family, a rich conservative donor. It clearly exists as an apparatus to extend their reach, not as an actual product.

                  14 votes
              5. [5]
                Akir
                Link Parent
                From my experience taking two classes on Linux, including one that specialized on server archetechture? No. Not at all.

                Don't they still teach *nix in college?

                From my experience taking two classes on Linux, including one that specialized on server archetechture? No. Not at all.

                7 votes
                1. [4]
                  Amarok
                  Link Parent
                  Wow. I guess that explains it then.

                  Wow. I guess that explains it then.

                  1. [3]
                    Akir
                    Link Parent
                    Well, to be fair, it's community college and both of those classes were taught by both the oldest and most laid-back professor I've encountered so far, using an outdated trade paperback as the...

                    Well, to be fair, it's community college and both of those classes were taught by both the oldest and most laid-back professor I've encountered so far, using an outdated trade paperback as the textbook.

                    2 votes
                    1. [2]
                      Amarok
                      Link Parent
                      My local community college taught me unix, c, fortran, pascal, even cobol. Some light windows, visual basic, etc. That was back in '95 though. Mostly now they have auto-repair centers, welding,...

                      My local community college taught me unix, c, fortran, pascal, even cobol. Some light windows, visual basic, etc. That was back in '95 though. Mostly now they have auto-repair centers, welding, etc. All refocused on trade schools.

                      1 vote
                      1. Eabryt
                        Link Parent
                        To be fair that I'm sure had more to do with the times than anything else. That's pretty much all there was for programming at the time. I never took an "official" unix course, but one of the...

                        To be fair that I'm sure had more to do with the times than anything else. That's pretty much all there was for programming at the time.

                        I never took an "official" unix course, but one of the professors hosted a unix server that you were expected to keep homework/projects on and that's how he would test them, so most people just did development there and got familiar with the environment.

                        For my current job I basically live on the green screen, so I appreciate having the experience.

                        1 vote
            2. dredmorbius
              Link Parent
              And push notifications, as well as data ingestion through apps. There are reasons sites push apps over Web. Engagement and surveillance capabilities are tremendously greater. Especially useful...

              And push notifications, as well as data ingestion through apps.

              There are reasons sites push apps over Web. Engagement and surveillance capabilities are tremendously greater.

              Especially useful when you're trying to organise and foment a new civil war.

              3 votes
          2. nothis
            Link Parent
            I too can't help but cynically jump to this argument all the time but I no longer consider it relevant. There's mounting evidence that "deplatforming" works. Measures like this make it harder by a...

            I too can't help but cynically jump to this argument all the time but I no longer consider it relevant. There's mounting evidence that "deplatforming" works. Measures like this make it harder by a factor of 10 or even 100 for the average person to connect with these movements and that is usually a big cut to create a significant downwards trend.

            Also Twitter and YouTube are funded by advertising. Advertising doesn't work on conspiracy fringe sites that companies don't want to be associated with. It recently killed voat. Parler is an obvious next victim.

            8 votes
          3. babypuncher
            Link Parent
            That's OK. Taking these elements off the major platforms makes it much harder for them to reach and radicalize people who aren't already brainwashed into their cause.

            That's OK. Taking these elements off the major platforms makes it much harder for them to reach and radicalize people who aren't already brainwashed into their cause.

            6 votes
          4. NaraVara
            Link Parent
            This here is the key. I don’t think they’ll figure it out. Also Kettling them into a crazy corner means they don’t have easy channels to pull new people in.

            Trumpers may not be able to figure out how to use one, but it is there...

            This here is the key. I don’t think they’ll figure it out. Also Kettling them into a crazy corner means they don’t have easy channels to pull new people in.

            5 votes
    2. [5]
      AugustusFerdinand
      Link Parent
      Hannity isn't known for accuracy, there's nothing on the @ account they're quoting and there's already other accounts like DonaldTrump and the "45" account mentioned that was fake. So there's no...

      Hannity isn't known for accuracy, there's nothing on the @ account they're quoting and there's already other accounts like DonaldTrump and the "45" account mentioned that was fake. So there's no real evidence it's him.

      3 votes
      1. [4]
        AugustusFerdinand
        Link Parent
        Don't know if there's an archive that's fast enough, but a couple of minutes ago Trump had some multi-tweet diatribe on the @POTUS account that has since all been scrubbed/deleted.

        Don't know if there's an archive that's fast enough, but a couple of minutes ago Trump had some multi-tweet diatribe on the @POTUS account that has since all been scrubbed/deleted.

        10 votes
        1. [3]
          cfabbro
          Link Parent
          Trump tried to evade his ban with @POTUS, but those tweets were instantly deleted Pic of the tweets
          12 votes
          1. cfabbro
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            He apparently tried to tweet from @TeamTrump too, which has now been suspended as well: Twitter suspends Trump's campaign account @TeamTrump for violating its rules (pic of tweets) And also:...
            9 votes
          2. Amarok
            Link Parent
            Negotiating with other sites does imply he's looking into it, but with Trump, who the hell knows. As for him building his own platform, I have a hunch that's going to be a hard sell to any hosting...

            Negotiating with other sites does imply he's looking into it, but with Trump, who the hell knows. As for him building his own platform, I have a hunch that's going to be a hard sell to any hosting service, at least in the USA and most developed countries. I'm sure Russia will be happy to host him.

            6 votes