[ksdale]

The silver lining of this awkward middle ground is the certainty that censorship is the wrong way to go. We may be doomed if people remain so easy to manipulate, but if you really believe that censorship is counter-productive, then education is the only path out.

[throwoutway]

We’ll also be doomed if this is just a trial run that just enables authoritarianism in another decade. If people roll over on this now, the government won’t care to subdue the populace more & more in the future.

[throwawaygh]

Ugh, no! I mean, yes, but also, stop getting sucked into this stupid debate. It's a red herring.

[ksdale]

And I guess to expand on my position, I don't think this debate is stupid. The way through, in my mind, as naive as it may seem, is to be basically like substack, and acknowledge that providing a platform is a big responsibility, one they don't take lightly, that the goal is increased trust overall, and that that goal is primarily served by being as content agnostic as possible. Acting in good faith with no expectation that people will return the favor is the way to build trust.

[throwawaygh]

> by being as content agnostic as possible.

This is not congruent with profit motive, so they will fail. Either as a company or as at this goal. Almost certainly the latter.

Google set out to not be evil and Zuckerberg set out to connect the world. Both, I'm sure, sincere.

[ksdale]

Haha I can sense your frustration! What is the real debate, in your mind?

[throwawaygh]

Factored out into a separate thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30093413