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Re:Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler by lordnacho on Sunday January 10, 2021 @04:48AM (#25712927)
It is complicated. Trump was dogwhistling for years before anything was done.

We can all agree that "go and kill X" should be stopped, but it's not clear where the line goes. "X is a bad person" could be incitement too, depending on context.

Re:Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler by jonathanstrange on Sunday January 10, 2021 @05:33AM (#25713215)
I think this is the central problem. Companies are overcautious in their assessments because of potential litigation and they also tend to use algorithms for them to save costs, which almost always leads to algorithmic discrimination.

In contrast to this, judges are generally able and trained to make such assessments by evaluating the circumstances and the intentions behind speech, and when they err there is a clearly regulated appeals process.

So I don't think it's a good idea for companies to be allowed to ban whole apps like Parler or persons like Trump, even though I principally endorse these measures. The wrong mechanisms are behind it. Instead there should be more oversight of corporations and how they make decisions that may massively affect someone's online life (which has become an almost essential part of life for most people). Mere accusations of crimes should not lead to a full-fledged ban.

I'm fine with limiting the number of people one can reach, e.g. Twitter disallowing retweets or Facebook sending posts only to closest friends. However, even these measures should be transparent, based on openly published and clear guidelines, and there must be an appeals process with several instances and humans in the loop.

Right now, the problem is that individuals and companies have no right of public online representation, and at the same time huge corporations have all the rights to cancel anyone's account without transparency or appeal. That is inherently unjust and will get worse the more important online features become for the rest of your life, e.g. what do employers think when you apply without Facebook account, and so on.

Re:Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler by rini17 on Sunday January 10, 2021 @05:39AM (#25713253)
But we also have no right of public presentation on radio nor TV, it's fully up to the station owner. And it wasn't really a problem...or?
Re:Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler by jonathanstrange on Monday January 11, 2021 @04:21AM (#25726573)
Yes, but as I tried to make plausible it's fundamentally different with online media. The analogy is flawed. If the majority of people had been present on radio and TV, had their air time and it would be completely normal to watch their shows, then excluding minorities would have been problematic.