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by eightysixfour 1988 days ago
Did you have a problem with Twitter banning ISIS propaganda pages and recruiters?
2 comments

I have a problem with people who believe this propaganda had any net effect, except for railing up some people (which probably was the intent.)
How can you say that when there are hundreds of confirmed cases of ISIS radicalizing people from the internet ? Why do you have a problem believing that ?
Are there? Was it through Twitter? In all likelihood what you're talking about is some random semi-private forum that's going to fly under the radar anyway. And you have that big, huge number: hundreds, not mere dozens, hundreds! My oh my, that's a scary army right there. How many suicide bombers have the harassment by ISrael of the illegally occupied territories population created?

And with this joke of an army is good enough to kill free speech on the net. That's almost as tragically comical as the floatsam in the Gulf of Tonkin that caused millions of deaths, but it's happening right now.

Yes, and yes. You can find numerous examples where Twitter in particular was the method of recruitment. Here is one: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/northern-va-teen-...
Language is how we construct our shared reality. When you let language like this go unchallenged, it gives legitimacy to the worldview it endorses.
This argument for censorship is as pretentious as it's vacuous.
I dunno, calling something pretentious and vacuous with no other details is pretty much the most vacuous argument I can think of.
Do you have a problem with Twitter banning foreign enemies?
I think that was precisely their point?
I’m asking for a stance.

I think in a democratic society we accept certain structures and laws. If the government declares a group an enemy of the state, then I think it’s fair to comply with that law. Making your own laws is not though.

However, just the other day there was hooplah about GitHub not allowing access from Iran. So it’s like people want to eat their cake and also have it.

I think this is actually a great point because it shows how much grey there is in something you're trying to make black and white.

China is not declared a foreign enemy by law and yet the US government is actively using banning and sanctioning their otherwise legally operating companies. If they're not a foreign enemy, do they not have rights in the US?

This whole thing is only shades of grey. Pretending it is black and white makes an honest conversation about it impossible.

The China situation is complicated by the unfair nature of commerce with them. They can ban Twitter. Google etc. Rip off IP and so on.

So while not an enemy, they do engage in anticompetitive activities and we should counter them.

But what if our companies are breaking Chinese law (like, not filtering searches), and that's why they've been banned?
Twitter doesn't make their own laws. They have a privately owned platform and can choose how to manage it to some degree. Just like a restaurant can kick you out if you don't act responsibly.

It might be different if Twitter had a monopoly on social networks, but that's not the case.

>> Do you have a problem with Twitter banning foreign enemies?

> I think that was precisely their point?

Is China our enemy?