> People who are de-platformed are almost always people who others WANT to hear. Think of all the famous people deplatformed from big tech social media...10s of millions of followers each. It wasn't that "no one" wanted to hear them, but that the people that controlled the platform didn't want others to be able to hear them.
They have platforms they could go to. Parler, Rumble, Truth Social, their own blogs/websites, running a Polermo or Mastodon instance.
Twitter was a giant public pool. For the most part everyone was chill. And then the trolls arrived and started shitting and peeing in the pool. Swimming in that pool (the algorithmic timeline and such) became horrible.
My idea that it was less about the "powers that be" deplatforming people and more not owning the platform you post on. I love the federated social movement and the push for people whom I agree with and disagree with to own their platforms I am just saying that the "wo is me, my megaphone was taken away from me and now I have no way to access the hordes of other trolls that think and spew the hate that I do" is a false narrative because nothing was stopping them from creating their own platforms with off-the-shelf tools or spinning up websites like the Drudge Report or blogs or going to the other places where they like the alt-right or other fringe folks.
Centralized social media has inspired and organized countless violent acts. Malaysia and India with Whatsapp is probably the most shocking. I don't see the connection between Federation/Centralization/etc. and violence. Can you explain your reasoning?
Monopolies in media make government censorship easier. They also make intentional government incitement to nationalist violence easier, but that's not the violence that people who think they're well-represented by the government worry about.
Centralized can be removed so that violent people can’t organize. It’s impossible to do that when those individuals own the servers or have a decentralized network.
> Twitter was a giant public pool. For the most part everyone was chill. And then the trolls arrived and started shitting and peeing in the pool.
Have you ever looked at the replies to a Trump tweet, an Ilhan Omar tweet, a J.K. Rowling tweet, or a Briahna Joy Gray tweet? The degree of bullying, invective, and threats coming from people who support deplatforming is intense.
Anti-Trump responses make sense. He's the most polarizing US President in recent history and almost everything he's done has been bad for the US (ok of course this is arguable but hold on while I make my point). Him leaving the platform was good for Twitter and for democracy. If he comes back as a candidate then he'll likely come back to Twitter, his account has already been reinstated.
Omar, if she breaks Twitter rules, can, and should, have her personal account suspended. As a sitting congresswoman she is entitled to her official handle. Unlikely to get deplatformed, so not an issue.
J.K. Rowling's takes on the transgender community is not even something I want to touch. It's too toxic and complicated to do so. That being said if -- see a pattern here? -- she runs afoul of the Twitter rules (whatever they may be) her personal account can be suspended or banned.
Briahna Joy Gray -- of course there are extremists on the left -- but if they don't oh I dunno -- incite a violent riot to overturn an election -- then I doubt she'll be deplatformed, though if she calls for violence or ... which would run afoul of rules ... see I am starting to see how the pool analogy really does work.
I know my stance on censorship is not a popular one. I have struggled with it myself. But I think it is self-consistent and I stand by it: let the wierdos, racists, nazis, hate filled folks scream into the void of their own making on servers they own to others that subscribe to their bullshit. As for me and the rest of the civilized world we'll continue to swim in clear, shit and pee-free water. ;-)
They have platforms they could go to. Parler, Rumble, Truth Social, their own blogs/websites, running a Polermo or Mastodon instance.
Twitter was a giant public pool. For the most part everyone was chill. And then the trolls arrived and started shitting and peeing in the pool. Swimming in that pool (the algorithmic timeline and such) became horrible.
My idea that it was less about the "powers that be" deplatforming people and more not owning the platform you post on. I love the federated social movement and the push for people whom I agree with and disagree with to own their platforms I am just saying that the "wo is me, my megaphone was taken away from me and now I have no way to access the hordes of other trolls that think and spew the hate that I do" is a false narrative because nothing was stopping them from creating their own platforms with off-the-shelf tools or spinning up websites like the Drudge Report or blogs or going to the other places where they like the alt-right or other fringe folks.