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by vel0city 1373 days ago
This original post is someone using their phone number for two accounts. Having multiple accounts is against their rules, so it's abuse of their platform.

Another user talking about being banned from Discord was supposedly involved with a server trading child pornography and then continuing to get banned by creating additional accounts which is once again against Discord's terms.

I'm not seeing a lot of examples of people truly getting banned for no reason. It's not my place to tell Discord what is and isn't abuse of their platform. They're allowed to make their own membership rules.

But please, answer my question. Is discord allowed to exclude those who they feel abuse their platform? That's kind of the key point here.
1 comments
ncmncm 1373 days ago
A private organization should be able to do what they like, provided they have not acquired enough market power to be acting in the role of a public utility. As a public utility, they should be obliged to follow procedures that offer due process.

Does that mean they cannot "exclude those who they feel abuse their platform"? That is a tendentious, disingenuous question.

Does that mean they should be obliged to have a legitimate justification for such action, and offer an avenue to challenge it? Yes.

Does it mean the list of justifications should be subject to public review? Yes.

Does it mean that permanent bans for trivial, correctable reasons should not meet the standards of such public review? Yes.

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vel0city 1372 days ago
The company which delivers water to my house is a utility. I have no choice but to use them.

The company which delivers electricity to my house is a utility. I have no choice but to use them.

McDonald's isn't a utility. There's lots of other places I can go to get food.

Discord isn't a utility. There are tons of other chat platforms available on the internet.

Gmail isn't a utility. There are lots of other email hosts available.

Are you seriously suggesting Discord is the only place to communicate on the internet to the point it's a utility like water and power?

Are Odd Fellows a utility?

Is Hacker News a utility?

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