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Re:Tell HN: Reddit accounts cancellation/suspension caused b... by root_axis on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @08:51AM (#30346360)
It should not be illegal to ban someone from a website under any circumstances.
Re:Tell HN: Reddit accounts cancellation/suspension caused b... by AnonCoward4 on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @09:31AM (#30346891)
I think he means the practice of shadow banning. Not that I agree there either, but I agree that it is abusive.
Re:Tell HN: Reddit accounts cancellation/suspension caused b... by FollowingTheDao on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @10:00AM (#30347284)
What if they just started shadow banning African Americans? Would that be illegal? This is a serious qeustion. If we have no idea on who they are shadow banning how can we tell if they are not being discriminatory?
Re:Tell HN: Reddit accounts cancellation/suspension caused b... by JohnHaugeland on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @10:21AM (#30347591)
The practice of excluding by race is not actually illegal.

Think about fraternities. Think about ethnic centers.

People have an expectation that because it's immoral in the obvious case, it's illegal.

It's actually not. Nothing stops anyone from making a group for, say, Chinese American newspaper reporters, or Lebanese car mechanics.

What's actually illegal is turning people down for jobs or housing over race.

The law would only be interested if the website was the only way to get to protected topics like a job board

Re:Tell HN: Reddit accounts cancellation/suspension caused b... by extra88 on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @10:34AM (#30347815)
It's also illegal in the U.S. to turn away customers because of their race. That's more relevant than private club membership.
Re:Tell HN: Reddit accounts cancellation/suspension caused b... by krono on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @11:37AM (#30348793)
I'm not talking about regular bans, I'm talking about shadow banning.

In case you're not familiar with the concept: it entails "muting" an account without ever notifying said account of that fact. They can still post, comment, vote, and everything else, but no one will see this content.

Re:Tell HN: Reddit accounts cancellation/suspension caused b... by root_axis on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @12:52PM (#30350061)
Sorry, I should have worded that a little more clearly, but my statement applies to shadow banning as well. In my view, it is totally unreasonable to make arbitrary software behavior like shadow banning illegal.