Should people be banned from twitter, facebook etc. ?

eleos1954

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No doubt there is a lot of vile things posted online ... so now these "entities" are banning people. But what I'm wondering is ... is it better for people (and groups of people) to be banned ... or would it be better to not be banned ... a couple reasons for not being banned ... people expose who they really are to the public and/or authorities and can be alerted of of possible threats and at least some of those threats could be possibly be prevented. As far as the general public goes ... one can choose not to listen to someone. Not sure about this .... what are your thoughts?
 
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Dave-W

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Do you have a news item here? That is required for this folder.

IMO it would be better to ban FB, Twitter and all the like off of the internet period.
 
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Tom 1

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No doubt there is a lot of vile things posted online ... so now these "entities" are banning people. But what I'm wondering is ... is it better for people (and groups of people) to be banned ... or would it be better to not be banned ... a couple reasons for not being banned ... people expose who they really are to the public and/or authorities and can be alerted of of possible threats and at least some of those threats could be possibly be prevented. As far as the general public goes ... one can choose not to listen to someone. Not sure about this .... what are your thoughts?

People get banned for repeatedly or grossly violating the terms they agreed to when signing up to use whatever social media site it is they were banned from. There’s nothing mysterious about it.
 
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AirPo

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Anyone remember VoteForTheWorst?

I checked it out a couple of times. I read the most ironic post by a moderator there. The entire premise of the site was to ruin things for other people, but this moderator was complaining about a poster ruining their site.

^_^^_^^_^!

And I second Dave-W's comment, this thread is better in the Kitchen Sink forum.
 
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Yekcidmij

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No doubt there is a lot of vile things posted online ... so now these "entities" are banning people. But what I'm wondering is ... is it better for people (and groups of people) to be banned ... or would it be better to not be banned ... a couple reasons for not being banned ... people expose who they really are to the public and/or authorities and can be alerted of of possible threats and at least some of those threats could be possibly be prevented. As far as the general public goes ... one can choose not to listen to someone. Not sure about this .... what are your thoughts?

On one hand, the servers everyone uses are owned by those companies. They're the company's servers, so they can store what they want on them, limit access to them, etc.. You don't have a right to their property and if you don't agree with their policy, you don't have to use their services. There are alternative services and should they ban enough people, the market would supply the demand and those companies will create their competition.

On the other hand, some of those platforms are a de-facto public forum. Twitter in particular is the President's primary means of communication. It's almost as if the government has outsourced/contracted-out it's role as public forum to these companies. If this is the case, then those public forums maybe shouldn't be suppressing free speech and can't just do what they want with their services. And maybe they have a bigger responsibility in policing their platforms? I dunno...

Not an easy thing one way or another. If they're de facto public forums, and so subject to stricter government control and regulation, then at what point does a platform become such a public forum? And do these rules apply offline as well to all venues?

I'm of the opinion that it's probably just company property. They can ban whoever they want for whatever reason they want. They' own those services, not me. If they're leftist outlets that ban conservatives, then so what? I could use someone else, create my own, create my own site, host my own servers....their ban doesn't actually suppress my speech as there are alternatives; they aren't monopolies (at least in the traditional understanding of monopoly).
 
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Halbhh

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No doubt there is a lot of vile things posted online ... so now these "entities" are banning people. But what I'm wondering is ... is it better for people (and groups of people) to be banned ... or would it be better to not be banned ... a couple reasons for not being banned ... people expose who they really are to the public and/or authorities and can be alerted of of possible threats and at least some of those threats could be possibly be prevented. As far as the general public goes ... one can choose not to listen to someone. Not sure about this .... what are your thoughts?

Slander is somewhat like arson.

It won't be best to allow the arsonist continue to burn things down hoping to catch their accomplices.

Consider when the slander is very carefully crafted to fool the most people possible, by intensive effort and refinement over time. That kind of slander can wreck real damage on a society.

Now, when Facebook bans Russian troll accounts, I just am glad. Facebook can and should police their site to ban the Russian troll accounts, and also should be able to ban Americans too that repeatedly post slander and other harmful falsehoods and/or incitements, etc. (unprotected speech)

(Certain types of harmful speech are not protected by the first amendment: United States free speech exceptions - Wikipedia)
 
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eleos1954

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Do you have a news item here? That is required for this folder.

IMO it would be better to ban FB, Twitter and all the like off of the internet period.

LOL ... you're probably right .... I do not use them at all.
 
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paul1149

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Even with banning, there will always be leakage where those prone to violence expose themselves, and there will always be surveillance of them to catch them and trace their connections. The problem with banning, demonetizing, etc. as now carried out by Big Tech is that it is not applied evenly.
 
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jayem

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I'm of the opinion that it's probably just company property. They can ban whoever they want for whatever reason they want. They' own those services, not me. If they're leftist outlets that ban conservatives, then so what? I could use someone else, create my own, create my own site, host my own servers....their ban doesn't actually suppress my speech as there are alternatives; they aren't monopolies (at least in the traditional understanding of monopoly).

Exactly. The 1st Amendment means that (with some exceptions) government can't criminalize the open expression of opinions. Though that doesn't mean there won't be consequences. Some speech could result in civil damages for libel, slander, or even emotional distress, depending on the state. But a private business can disallow pretty much anything it finds offensive.
 
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Uber Genius

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No doubt there is a lot of vile things posted online ... so now these "entities" are banning people. But what I'm wondering is ... is it better for people (and groups of people) to be banned ... or would it be better to not be banned ... a couple reasons for not being banned ... people expose who they really are to the public and/or authorities and can be alerted of of possible threats and at least some of those threats could be possibly be prevented. As far as the general public goes ... one can choose not to listen to someone. Not sure about this .... what are your thoughts?
Trigger Warning!!!!

Yes. For making threats to others.

But even the ACLU, hardly a Christian or conservative group, has come to the aid of those flying the Confederate flag, and Rush Limbaugh when it comes to free speech rights.

What we don't want to do is setup a double-standard where Gab goes offline because they didn't pull the Pittsburgh shooters site (A cached version of the account believed to belong to Bowers showed posts that are anti-Semitic and anti-refugee in nature and that are also critical of President Trump.) And paypal refuse to continue their subscription service and GoDaddy pulled Gab offline.

"TORONTO — A man whose Facebook account paid homage to a mass killer was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of first-degree murder, one day after police say he plowed a rented van onto a crowded sidewalk in what eyewitness accounts and surveillance video appeared to indicate was a deliberate attack."

I didn't see a single comment from paypal or others condemning Facebook for keeping this mass murders site up.

No outcry whatsoever from liberal reporters.Toronto van attack suspect Alek Minassian's Facebook account praised mass killer

We must not allow FB, Twitter, Google (Youtube), MS, or hosters of platforms to treat Conservatives the way Democrats treated blacks in the Jim Crow South. We can't have a "Liberals Only," social media.
 
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Uber Genius

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On one hand, the servers everyone uses are owned by those companies. They're the company's servers, so they can store what they want on them, limit access to them, etc.. You don't have a right to their property and if you don't agree with their policy, you don't have to use their services. There are alternative services and should they ban enough people, the market would supply the demand and those companies will create their competition.

On the other hand, some of those platforms are a de-facto public forum. Twitter in particular is the President's primary means of communication. It's almost as if the government has outsourced/contracted-out it's role as public forum to these companies. If this is the case, then those public forums maybe shouldn't be suppressing free speech and can't just do what they want with their services. And maybe they have a bigger responsibility in policing their platforms? I dunno...

Not an easy thing one way or another. If they're de facto public forums, and so subject to stricter government control and regulation, then at what point does a platform become such a public forum? And do these rules apply offline as well to all venues?

I'm of the opinion that it's probably just company property. They can ban whoever they want for whatever reason they want. They' own those services, not me. If they're leftist outlets that ban conservatives, then so what? I could use someone else, create my own, create my own site, host my own servers....their ban doesn't actually suppress my speech as there are alternatives; they aren't monopolies (at least in the traditional understanding of monopoly).
These are great points. We can always vote with our feet. I would hold the exception threats, and public endangerment (like yelling fire in a crowded theatre).

My frustration is with the de jure claims of objectivity and eschewing censoring views and the de facto censorship we have seen and promotion of liberal views and FB giving the Obama campaign access to subscriber info that it said it wouldn't give to the Romney's campaign. YouTube perhaps being the worst.

But caveat emptor. I would rather have little to no speech protection rather than the SPLC Social Justice Guide to non-offensive speech.
---Staff Edit----
 
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Tanj

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We can't have a "Liberals Only," social media.

Why not?

As an aside, is your inclusion of anti-left clickbait in your posts premeditated or a sign of some pathology?
 
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a post by Alan Smithee
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Being banned because of the political side of the aisle you are on is not a good thing.

M-Bob

Good thing that's not happening. There are hundreds of Facebook groups/pages, YouTube Channels, Twitter accounts, etc. by and for Conservatives.
 
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Mountainmanbob

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-trump-sisters-unsafe/?utm_term=.ef492632e270

But in September, the sisters say, the social media giant began to prevent them from notifying followers of new videos and started to limit the spread of their posts. It is unclear whether the pair was affected by Facebook’s various changes to its algorithm, which have affected other publishers, as well.
Diamond and Silk said they spent months trying to get an explanation from Facebook. Last week, they shared excerpts of an email that they said the company sent them on Thursday:
 
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