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Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by colmvp on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @07:18PM (#25664919)
Nice, it only took 4+ years of violations.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by mattnewton on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @07:23PM (#25665022)
Or one lost election.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by colmvp on Wednesday January 06, 2021 @07:51PM (#25665567)
Yes, you're more accurate. If he won re-election, Twitter would've likely bent the rules around his behavior.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by paganel on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:37AM (#25668704)
This is very slippery-slopy, the next Trump will know to take definitive actions against corporate entities like Twitter from earlier on.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by mcguire on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:53AM (#25668816)
Why do you think they are attacking Section 230?
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by colejohnson66 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @05:43AM (#25669540)
Doesn’t Section 230 actually protect them? Without it, they’d have no “safe harbor” protections against his account and would be forced to proactively remove stuff and would overmoderate to avoid lawsuits.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by mcguire on Thursday January 07, 2021 @04:09PM (#25677502)
As OniBait says, I think (I've given up trying to figure out the details of what they're doing) they are using the threat of removing 230 as a stick to stop social media companies from any moderation at all. Withou 230, the user-generated-content business model is untenable.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by OniBait on Thursday January 07, 2021 @10:55AM (#25672430)
I think it is more that they see selectively removing content as equivalent to moderation and thus they shouldn't have safe harbor. So maybe they want them to only remove illegal content or something?
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by antris on Thursday January 07, 2021 @06:04AM (#25669670)
Fascists want to use laws against their detractors whenever possible, but also want none of the law apply to them.

The USA could be a dictatorship if Trump were just slightly smarter.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by pvfffghhr on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:31AM (#25668260)
What exactly do they accuse him of?

Edit: nobody has an answer? It seems a very important question. Like if you say “spreading fake news”, you are saying Twitter should act as an authority of truth. Since they can’t possibly be that, where does that leave us?

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by devwastaken on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:46AM (#25668776)
You're not legitimately looking for an answer, therefore few are going to spend the time on it. Your questions are answered by honest research and taking the time to argue against yourself before doing it to other people.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by ricc on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:00AM (#25668487)
I don’t know why you’re in HN if you can’t use a search engine... but one of his violations is inciting violence.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by bra-ket on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:35AM (#25668689)
that's not true though, he explicitly said:

"I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/13469127807005777...

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by mattnewton on Thursday January 07, 2021 @11:44AM (#25673329)
You’ll notice that tweet was _not_ taken down, but tweets that told the protestors they were special people and something needed to be done about the stolen election were taken down.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by nindalf on Thursday January 07, 2021 @04:09AM (#25668915)
You’re arguing in bad faith.

It is a fact that that this election is over, and Biden won fair and square. 60 losses in State and Federal courts proves that. And yet Trump continues to incite his supporters by spreading falsehoods - the election was stolen, the other side committed fraud, patriots need to #stopthesteal and so on. Even yesterday he promised never to concede.

But sure, selectively look at the text where says “remain peaceful”. What a joke people like you are.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by sneak on Thursday January 07, 2021 @04:25AM (#25669031)
Claiming that false things are true is not inciting violence.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by andy_ppp on Thursday January 07, 2021 @05:22AM (#25669411)
It can incite violence, would these people have stormed the capital building if he’d said “fair enough guys, Joe got more votes than me, I lost”.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by La1n on Thursday January 07, 2021 @05:59AM (#25669639)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/capitol-mob-t...

------

>Be There. Will Be Wild!

------

a supporter misspelled the word “cavalry” in tweeting that “The calvary is coming, Mr. President!”

Mr. Trump responded: “A great honor!”

------

But first came the remarks of the President, delivered on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.

“We will never give up,” he said. “We will never concede. It will never happen. You don’t concede when there’s death involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore.”

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by Technically on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:58AM (#25668472)
violating their terms of service, presumably.

However, it's a private site & they don't need to justify their giving service or not.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by emteycz on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:19AM (#25668592)
Twitter is a company providing free service, and they have the right to prevent anyone from using it at their discretion without any explanation whatsoever. Twitter can explain their position but it can be completely wrong, and an explanation definitely does not make them any authority of any kind, and doesn't mean anything about other cases.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by dragonwriter on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:38AM (#25668305)
And at the outset, they changed the rules specifically to make his violations not violations (with an exception for leaders motivated by the constant complaints about his incessant violations); it was only toward the end that they restored the idea that there were rules that could apply to Trump (though they were still weaker than the generally applicable rules.)
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by arp242 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:36AM (#25668698)
I think that made sense to be honest; like it or not, Trump is the elected president, and denying the democratically elected president of your country access to your platform is quite the step. I mean, I sure don't like the entire situation as such, but in the same position, I probably would have done something similar.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by KozmoNau7 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @04:19AM (#25668977)
It would draw some criticisms, but Twitter would be banning his personal account, the one he used before becoming president and will probably use afterwards, providing it isn't banned.

The official Twitter account of the POTUS is @POTUS, not @realdonaldtrump.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by arp242 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @04:54AM (#25669230)
It's a bit of a fine line though; and wouldn't Trump just start tweeting at the @POTUS account? In fact, if I check it, it already looks just like @realdonaldtrump accounts since it's just retweets from there.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by vkou on Thursday January 07, 2021 @04:18AM (#25668969)
He should be subject to the same rules as everyone else. Are all men not equal in this country?
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by arp242 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @04:52AM (#25669220)
As an elected official you're usually given a bit more breathing space in these kind of issues. This is the case in more or less any similar country.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by dragonwriter on Thursday January 07, 2021 @12:17PM (#25673898)
> This is the case in more or less any similar country. reply

That’s true in the sense that Twitter’s rules change specifically motivated by Trump’s violation of their pre-existing rules applied globally, not just in the US, and enabled and was seized on by similarly-oriented leaders elsewhere, as well.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by arp242 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @01:19PM (#25674995)
It's not just about Twitter; in my own country the courts gave our own Trumpian firebrand Geert Wilders more leeway on account of being a democratically elected MP in two separate rulings. Actually, many countries have presidential and/or parliamentary immunity laws, partly so they can say what they think without fear of prosecution. Twitter is just following this long-standing precedent.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by vkou on Thursday January 07, 2021 @01:43PM (#25675304)
> Actually, many countries have presidential and/or parliamentary immunity laws, partly so they can say what they think without fear of prosecution.

Those laws are a mistake, because sooner or later, you elect a man who revels in being above the law, and who will act accordingly. Yesterday, such a man started a coup, in order to retain power. A few days before that, he was committing election fraud in Georgia. These are serious crimes, the consequences of which he is shielded from.

It's just a modern version of the divine right of kings.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by arp242 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:34PM (#25676089)
So I can file charges against MPs if I believe that "taxation is theft"? Or the next government can if they don't like my tax laws? Or charge MPs for libel or slander for saying their opinion about something? What if homosexuality is illegal and I say it should be legal, can I be charged then?

These laws exist for a reason. And just because Trump is Trump doesn't mean it doesn't work well most of the time. Remember this is the same man chanting "lock her up" and promised to change libel laws so he could sue everyone and their mother. Do you think he wouldn't have gone after elected officials with lawsuits?

And for most countries these laws are very far from absolute, and/or come with escape hatches.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by vkou on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:52PM (#25677302)
> So I can file charges against MPs if I believe that "taxation is theft"?

If you are a DA, yes. Private citizens can't file criminal charges. A judge would throw your case out, and you'd probably be disbarred, though. Those are the checks and balances inside our legal system.

If you can't see the difference between POTUS committing a clearly defined crime (Say, election fraud... Or sedition.) and the legal 'theories' of the sovereign citizen movement, I don't know what to say.

> Or charge MPs for libel or slander for saying their opinion about something?

1. You can already do that. Libel and slander are civil cases, and you can sue anyone you want in civil court, for any reason whatsoever, including POTUS.

2. If the courts find it to actually be libel or slander, why the hell not? If an elected official knowingly spreads lies and falsehoods that cause you material harm, you should be entitled to restitution.

> These laws exist for a reason.

Yes, elected officials passed them to protect themselves from legal consequences for their actions.

> And just because Trump is Trump doesn't mean it doesn't work well most of the time.

No, it doesn't work well most of the time. There's a very clear lack of equality under the law in this country - with the executive, its minions, and its friends being very clearly above the law.

> Remember this is the same man chanting "lock her up" and promised to change libel laws so he could sue everyone and their mother.

So, hold on, let's break this down.

We currently have laws that protect the executive from criminal prosecution.

This protection, at the moment, only applies to the current executive, not someone who might become part of the executive in the future.

And you are concerned that weakening these laws will let the current executive attack their future opposition.

... That doesn't make a lick of sense. Prior to getting elected, Trump had no power to 'lock her up'. After Trump got elected, Hillary was no longer protected, because she was not part of the executive.

How exactly is making the sitting president immune to criminal prosecution protect their political opponents from his vindictive behaviour? If anything, it empowers his vindictive behaviour. He is using these laws to protect himself, as he attack his opposition, and prevents a peaceful transfer of power.

And yes, I'm aware that impeachment exists. The impeachment process is a kangaroo court, the impartiality of which would make a Soviet judge blush.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by arp242 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @05:22PM (#25678475)
All I'm saying that in general these laws are common, exist in many countries, exist for good reasons, and that Twitter is acting according to their precedent. Are there downsides and is it a trade-off? Sure, most things are.

I'm not really interested about a conversation about various details; especially not if your response is just a flat unnuanced "elected officials passed them to protect themselves from legal consequences". I'm not even talking about the US specifically. The world is larger than the US, and the US doesn't even have MPs. I don't even know the specifics of the US laws on this.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by totalZero on Thursday January 07, 2021 @08:51PM (#25680409)
Trump is the best thing that could have happened to Twitter. His content keeps millions of people engaged.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by int_ on Thursday January 07, 2021 @01:09AM (#25667798)
Trump is no longer profitable for Twitter.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by sandworm101 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @01:47AM (#25667992)
Really? He would seem to be the king of all whales. His extremes draw people to the platform. No doubt countless seniors only ever installed the app so that they could follow trump. Like it or not, he draws in new users.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by sangnoir on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:23AM (#25668215)
How about legal exposure, or loss of political goodwill (especially by those who are in positions to provide oversight)? Profitability is impacted by more factors than just raw "number of eyeballs"
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by andrewfong on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:06AM (#25668528)
Well, the funny thing is they're mostly protected from legal exposure by Section 230, that thing Trump keeps trying to get rid of.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by asiando on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:29AM (#25668239)
In 2017 I saw Twitter advertising in Tokyo’s metro with Trump tweets. Even if their PR said “we don’t like it but it’s in the public interest,” it was obviously in their interest. Twitter has been mentioned daily in the news for the past 5 years, they turned a huge profit thanks the guy.

The only reason they’re acting now is that their excuse is about to expire. If they found another good excuse, Trump would stay.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by hef19898 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @07:43AM (#25670368)
Back then, it was in everyones interesst. Trump caused controversy, that drove traffic. Same applied for mainstream media and TV, everyone covered im because he drove engangement. The world would be much different, if everybody would just not have covered him and his rallies already in 2016. Everybody did, so.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by asiando on Friday January 08, 2021 @03:30AM (#25682759)
Covering doesn’t mean letting him speak directly to the public. CNN also let him speak live after the election, but when he started speaking nonsense they interrupted the feed.

What’s happening this week isn’t new, it’s been happening for years.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by kube-system on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:13AM (#25668565)
The election doesn’t delete Trump’s Twitter followers. If anything, twitter’s actions show this was never about profit... but about the fact that no media outlet in the US has ever outright censored a sitting president.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by newguy1234 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:13AM (#25668566)
He absolutely is. Trump is the only reason I actually go to twitter at all. The rest of the website is effectively a trash dump. Also if you haven't figured it out. Trump is likely to radically reform the entire republican party. Just because he lost the election doesn't mean he is going out of politics.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by KSteffensen on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:29AM (#25668657)
Recent events have forced Republican politicians to choose sides clearly rather than sitting on the fence hoping he will go away. This will hopefully severely limit Trumps power in the Republican party in the future.

He will probably not leave politics entirely, though. That would mean being forced to admit that he lost which is beyond his ego.

Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by chasd00 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @08:28AM (#25670753)
half the country hangs on trump's every word. to look at it from the other side, consider two Democrats running for office. one gets Obama's endorsement the other gets tarred and feathered. which one stands a better chance to win?
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by drukenemo on Thursday January 07, 2021 @01:54AM (#25668032)
Now it’s OK to be political on Hacker News?
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by arp242 on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:33AM (#25668676)
It's been OK since forever; there are loads of political discussions, and there have been for as long as I remember.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by pvfffghhr on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:30AM (#25668252)
Only if you have the right opinions.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by zorpner on Thursday January 07, 2021 @02:53AM (#25668436)
Every single comment on HN is political to varying degrees. The ones decrying politics are, ironically, among the most political; they specifically seek to perpetuate the status quo.
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by seizethecheese on Thursday January 07, 2021 @03:19AM (#25668594)
Tautology
Re:The account of realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours by zbentley on Friday January 08, 2021 @09:50AM (#25685233)
How?