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69 votes
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Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban
32 votes -
Text of u/DivestTrump's post about T_D and Russia propaganda that was deleted
51 votes -
House passes bill that could ban TikTok in the US, sending it to the Senate
45 votes -
Far-right Twitter influencers first on Elon Musk’s monetization scheme
70 votes -
The scary power of the companies that finally shut Trump up
25 votes -
Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump
50 votes -
US President Donald Trump has accused Twitter of "completely stifling free speech" after the social media company flagged some of his tweets with a fact-check warning
42 votes -
I found the libertarian (ultra rationalist?) tildes! Themotte.org
13 votes -
Conservative government would require websites to verify age to watch porn: Pierre Poilievre
36 votes -
UK's Online Safety Bill: Crackdown on harmful social media content agreed
27 votes -
Inside the all-hands meeting that led to a third of Basecamp employees quitting
30 votes -
By more than two-to-one, Americans support US government banning TikTok
17 votes -
Facebook deletes InfoWars pages
20 votes -
Fact sheet: US President Joe Biden issues executive order on safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence
24 votes -
Reddit CEO defends their intention to run Trump ads ahead of election, outlines their plans to move comments on ads into subreddits
51 votes -
The Great Deplatforming: An alternate explanation for the Parler, et al, shutdowns
A common current narrative is that tech monopolists are suddenly acting of their own initiative and in concert to deplatform the burgeoning fascist insurgent movement within the US. I approve the...
A common current narrative is that tech monopolists are suddenly acting of their own initiative and in concert to deplatform the burgeoning fascist insurgent movement within the US. I approve the deplatforming strongly, though I suspect an alternative significant motivating and coordfinating factor.
An example of the "tech monopoly abuse" narrative is Glenn Greenwald's more than slightly unhinged "How Silicon Valley, in a Show of Monopolistic Force, Destroyed Parler"
Greenwald's argument hinges on emotion, insinuation, invective, a completely unfounded premise, an absolute absence of evidence, and no consideration of alternative explanations: an overwhelmingly plausible ongoing law enforcement and national security operation, likely under sealed or classified indictments or warrants, in the face of ongoing deadly sedition lead by the President of the United States himself, including against the person of his own vice president and credible threats against the President-Elect and Inauguration.
Such an legal action is, of course, extraordinarily difficult to prove, and I cannot prove it. A critical clue for me, however, is the defection not just of Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Stripe, and other tech firms, but of Parler's legal counsel, who would have to be an exceptionally stealth-mode startup to fit Greenwald's, or other's, "it's the tech monopolists" narrative. I've tempered my degree of assurance and language ("plausible" rather than "probable"). Time will tell. But a keen and critical mind such as Grenwald's should at least be weighing the possibility. He instead seems bent only on piking old sworn enemies, with less evidence or coherence than I offer.
This is the crux of Greenwald's argument. It's all he's got:
On Thursday, Parler was the most popular app in the United States. By Monday, three of the four Silicon Valley monopolies united to destroy it.
I'm no friend of the tech monopolists myself. The power demonstrated here does concern me, greatly. I've long railed against Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, among other tech monopolists. Largely because as monopolies they are power loci acting through their occupation of a common resource, outside common control, and not serving the common weal. Hell: Facebook, Google (YouTube), Reddit, and Twitter played a massive role in creating the current fascist insurrection in the US, along with even more enthusiastic aid and comfort from traditional media, across the spectrum. Damage that will take decades to repair, if ever.
But, if my hypothesis is correct, the alternative explanation would be the opposite of this: the state asserting power over and through monopolies in the common interest, in support of democratic principles, for the common weal. And that I can support.
I don't know that this is the case. I find it curious that I seem to be the only voice suggesting it. Time should tell.
And after this is over, yes, Silicon Valley, in its metonymic sense standing for the US and global tech industry, has to face its monopoly problem, its free speech problem (in both sincere and insincere senses), its surveillance problem (capitalist, state, criminal, rogue actor), its censorship problem, its propaganda problem (mass and computational), its targeted manipulation adtech problem, its trust problem, its identity problem, its truth and disinformation problems, its tax avoidance problem, its political influence problem.
Virtually all of which are inherent aspects of monopoly: "Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attributes of monopoly" https://joindiaspora.com/posts/7bfcf170eefc013863fa002590d8e506
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24771470But, speaking as a space alien cat myself, Greenwald is so far off base here he's exited the Galaxy.
Update: 2h30m after posting, NPR have mentioned sealed indictments and speculated on whether the President might be charged, in special coverage.
Late edits: 2022-1-23 Typos: s/inconcert/in concert/; s/would bet he/would be the/;
19 votes -
Just days after promising advertisers that Twitter would not be a “free-for-all,” Elon Musk promoted a right-wing rumor about the vicious hammer assault on Paul Pelosi
29 votes -
Facebook bans Trump "indefinitely" with Mark Zuckerberg explaining that "the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service... are simply too great"
36 votes -
I joined Parler, the right-wing echo chamber’s new favorite alt-Twitter
27 votes -
Facebook chats from planning session of Unite The Right 2 have been leaked
17 votes -
Florida latest to restrict social media for kids as legal battle looms
22 votes -
Texas is right. The tech giants need to be regulated.
10 votes -
White House unveils ban on US investment in Chinese tech sectors linked to the military
41 votes -
Elizabeth Warren proposes breaking up Amazon, Google, and Facebook
48 votes -
Social app Parler apparently receives funding from the conservative Mercer family
19 votes -
An AI-generated image of a Victorian MP raises wider questions on digital ethics
9 votes -
How YouTube radicalized Brazil
22 votes -
Trump accuses Google of rigging search results to show mostly negative stories about him
32 votes -
Once more with feeling: Banning TikTok is unconstitutional and won’t do shit to deal with any actual threats
24 votes -
US government reportedly ponders crimping China's use of RISC-V
20 votes -
Additional steps Twitter is taking ahead of the 2020 US Election
15 votes -
Mozilla to remove “meritocracy” from governance docs because it's “problematic”
12 votes -
Why we’re dropping Basecamp
27 votes -
Israeli spyware firm NSO demands “urgent” meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken amid Gaza war lobbying effort
22 votes -
US Congress' push to regulate Big Tech is fizzling out
11 votes -
US Supreme Court leaves in place a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify users' ages
32 votes -
The CHIPS Act treats the symptoms, but not the causes
23 votes -
Welcome to the prude internet: No more sex talk allowed
32 votes -
Slack is banning users who have visited US-sanctioned countries (including Iran and Cuba) while using its app
20 votes -
Parkland mass shooting victims send AI robocalls to NRA-supporting US politicians
29 votes -
US cable lobby and Ted Cruz are disappointed as FCC bans digital discrimination
43 votes -
Local governments aren't businesses – so why are they force-fed business software?
31 votes -
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirms TikTok is under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US following national security concerns
11 votes -
One Twitter account is reposting everything Trump tweets. It was suspended within three days
34 votes -
Memes are our generation's protest art
13 votes -
AI firm [Midjourney] considers banning creation of political images for 2024 elections
31 votes -
Facebook and Twitter take unusual steps to limit spread of New York Post story
16 votes -
US President Donald Trump signs executive order designed to limit the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for the content users post on their platforms
31 votes -
Twitter announces a plan to apply click-through "notices" to future tweets from politicians that violate Twitter rules but are "in the public interest"
18 votes