The Town Square, X, Facebook, and 'free speech' - what is happening, and how can we defend democracy against the lies?

[eclipsenow]

This is a very depressing 3 part series by - you guessed it - Matt Bevan of the Australian ABC's "If you're listening."

It has implications for America as well - for all democracies exposed to the increasingly crazy world of social media.

Part 1:

Can Canada & Australia defeat Facebook? | If You're Listening​

Part 2:

How Musk and Zuckerberg cooked our elections | If You're Listening​

Part 3 is next week

 

[Oompa Loompa]

I am not watching a three part series. But in response to the question, I remember conservatives voicing their concerns about big tech censorship. At the time, we were told, "if you don't like it, start your own company." Since then, Rumble has become more popular for conservative podcasts, Twitter was bought out by Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg even admitted that they intentionally censored the Hunter Biden laptop story because of threats and pressure from the Obama/Biden administration. The bottom line is that the answer is more transparency, not censorship. When companies and government agencies censor things, it opens the door for conspiracy theories.

 

[Fantine]

I am not watching a three part series. But in response to the question, I remember conservatives voicing their concerns about big tech censorship. At the time, we were told, "if you don't like it, start your own company." Since then, Rumble has become more popular for conservative podcasts, Twitter was bought out by Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg even admitted that they intentionally censored the Hunter Biden laptop story because of threats and pressure from the Obama/Biden administration. The bottom line is that the answer is more transparency, not censorship. When companies and government agencies censor things, it opens the door for conspiracy theories.

Then you obviously disapprove of Trump's attempt to defend NPR and PBS, his banning Associated Press from his briefings, his lawsuit against Stephanopolus, his attacks on universities, libraries and museums---have I missed anything?

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Then you obviously disapprove of Trump's attempt to defend NPR and PBS,

I am not familiar in how he is defending NPR and PBS. Isn't that a good thing?

his banning Associated Press from his briefings,

He did ban the AP from any press briefings. I have hear about the time he didn't invite them to his office when he was signing executive orders.

his lawsuit against Stephanopolus

Defamation has consequences.

his attacks on universities, libraries and museums

I am not sure what you are talking about.

 

[Fantine]

I am not familiar in how he is defending NPR and PBS. Isn't that a good thing?

He did ban the AP from any press briefings. I have hear about the time he didn't invite them to his office when he was signing executive orders.

Defamation has consequences.

I am not sure what you are talking about.

Obviously spellchecker changed defund to defend. Ugh.
He withdrew funds from museums and the arts. He's opening up national parkland to predatory drilling.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Obviously spellchecker changed defund to defend. Ugh.

I feel your pain.

He withdrew funds from museums and the arts. He's opening up national parkland to predatory drilling.

Fiscal responsibility and energy independence is not censorship.

 

[eclipsenow]

OK, episode 3 dropped this morning and it's a cracker.

Australia vs the internet:​

Part 3
Canada and Australia suddenly turned on their conservative parties - parties that had both been far ahead in the polls just months before.
One of the annoying factors - Musk’s hacking of Twitter to favour everything right wing. They tweaked Twitter (X) on the very day Musk was set to interview Trump - but it took 40 minutes to get Trump online on X - as their ‘tweak’ had broken something. That’s what you get when you come in and just start firing people - kind of like the Federal government at the moment after an outside, unelected corporate billionaire was left to break the Federal government as well as his own social media company.
Now - where were we?
Oh yeah, Musk tweaking twitter. His own rankings shot up tenfold, and a few other weird MAGA accounts. Like that “End Wokeness” account that reported ‘they were eating the cats’. etc. A complete lie about a “neighbours daughter’s friend’s cat” went from a crazed X lie to a Presidential debate!
Then of course Musk accused the UK’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of the ‘rape of Britain’.
This was about his earlier role as an investigator of a child sex scandal - gangs of ‘South Asian decent’. His involvement and handling of this investigation convicted many paedophiles and was later reviewed and found to be exemplary. BUT of course years later an alt-right online conspiracy emerged that it was all a cover up, and vastly worse than imagined, and Keir had bungled it - blah blah blah - and without ANY proper investigative discipline - Musk just grabbed this salacious gossip and went nuts with it on his platform. Musk DEMANDED that King Charles SACK the Prime Minister and call an election immediately!

Because - when you’re the world’s richest man in control of a massive media empire - apparently it goes to your head. The Oligarch factor kicks in - and you think you run the planet. Power corrupts, and all that. Democracy schme-ocracy!
Then in January he said “the fate of the world” rested on the victory of a far-right German party with 15% neo-NAZIs.

Canadians and Australians were watching.
He’d called our Labor leaders fascists, and was meddling in Canada as well.
DOGE started off a as a joke on X - but soon became policy!

But that’s NOTHING compared to the impact of Trump’s policies, his ridiculous destructive tariffs, and apparent hatred of every other nation on earth.

Canadians and Australians cannot stand Trump! But the Canadian and Australian right are having trouble discerning what is real popular opinion and what is just a ‘fever dream’ cooked up online in the X echo-chambers.​

Apparently - if you're in this political game - if you take your policies from X in a country that has seen how Trump is failing the world, you're going down - big time!

Trump has failed the American economy. He has hurt the global economy. He has betrayed generations of military alliance with his threats against NATO. His very NAME has become a banned word, a by-word for unpleasant nasty things we do not discuss at nice dinner parties!

If your conservative party even whiffs of anything 'Trumpy' (an accusation used in Australia's last election against our conservative leader) - you're going down!

Just wait till the next American election guys!
Oh - that's assuming you still have them in 4 years!