[ceejayoz]

> What extortion are you claiming?

Universities: https://www.npr.org/2026/01/29/nx-s1-5559293/trump-settlemen...

Companies: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/esg/extortionary-intel-stake-s...

Law firms: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-law-firms--deals-wi...

Media: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/business/media/paramount-...

Why would AI companies be any different?

> Are you claiming there will be a fee?

I'd be more concerned with "your model can't be too woke" regulatory scenarios.

[giwook]

> I'd be more concerned with "your model can't be too woke" regulatory scenarios.

Honestly that's exactly where my mind went. We already see the current administration trying to censor free speech (e.g. Jimmy Kimmel, blocking/restricting press access to the White House unless you are pro-Trump).

I'm afraid of the potential to move in the direction of what we see in China where queries to LLMs referencing things like Tianenmen Square are censored (at best).

[gardenhedge]

I'm not american but it seems like americans are MORE free to speak their minds now than before in terms of being banned/silenced by dominating online platforms

[giwook]

Not sure what you're trying to say here, but I get the sense you don't have enough information as to what's going on here (nothing wrong with that, I've been trying to tune out myself).

Regardless: "...an increasing number of travelers report being questioned about legally protected online speech when crossing the border."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/travel/airport-border-pho...

[gardenhedge]

I am saying it "seems like americans are MORE free to speak their minds now than before in terms of being banned/silenced by dominating online platforms".

Previously you could not post about certain subjects around covid, ivermectin, anything not in line with woke ideology, political scandals. Accounts would be banned. Communities were shut down on Reddit. High profile figures were banned from Twitter. Now you can post whatever you like on most of these platforms. That's not just me who thinks that by the way, it's a widely discussed thing. Zuckerberg even cited government pressure around content suppression and censorship. Do you disagree?

[giwook]

Got it. I'm now picking up on your point given the implied political bias that your comment hints at. I don't want to resurrect this long-dead debate as I take it you are not pro-science.

[gardenhedge]

It sounds like you've brought baggage to the conversation. HN is not the place for that.

[ceejayoz]

> High profile figures were banned from Twitter.

One of Musk's first acts as owner was to do that. https://x.com/elonjet (and the journalists reporting on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2022_Twitter_suspensi...)

(After previously explicitly promising not to, citing… freedom of speech! https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1589414958508691456)

Bunch more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspensions_on_X#2023

> anything not in line with woke ideology

How did so many Republican politicians survive on there?!

> Now you can post whatever you like on most of these platforms.

As long as it isn't the word "cisgender". https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/06/elon-musk-free-speec...

Or a link to Mastodon. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63999452

> Zuckerberg even cited government pressure around content suppression and censorship.

To curry favor with the new admin, sure.

> Accounts would be banned. Communities were shut down on Reddit.

This happens regularly, today. https://www.reddit.com/r/BannedSubs/

[gardenhedge]

Even with these examples, my comment still stands. I guess it could show how bad it was before!

[AlecSchueler]

The government literally removed research into trans-fats because of their transphobia. Much free speech

[pphysch]

> I'm afraid of the potential to move in the direction of what we see in China where queries to LLMs referencing things like Tianenmen Square are censored (at best).

We are already there.

"Canva admits its AI tool removed 'Palestine' from designs: https://gizmodo.com/canva-admits-its-ai-tool-removed-palesti...

[grosswait]

Or your model is not "woke enough"

[ceejayoz]

I have very little patience for bothsidesism at this point.

[icapybara]

Your side is not the only side.

[ceejayoz]

Obviously.

"Bothsidesism" posits that the two sides are broadly similar. The last few years have debunked that concept pretty conclusively.

[staticautomatic]

It also posits that there are only two sides.

[ceejayoz]

In the US, that is functionally the case, and likely to remain that way.

[icapybara]

Yes but OP made a good point (model censorship going too far in the name of "woke"ness) and you shut them down.

[ceejayoz]

Yes, because it's disingenuous bullshit.

As it was with "campus protests violate free speech!" from the folks who immediately turned around and banned voluntary diversity programs at universities.

As it was with "Twitter bans violate free speech" from the folks who bought it and banned @elonjet and the word cisgender.

[techno303]

why? Most regulations (ADA, affirmative action, etc.) fall into the "not woke enough" category of model regulation. Current administration aside, complaints of this sort are more likely. It’s absurd, really, to believe there would be a regulation governing a model being too woke; regulation itself is woke

[JumpCrisscross]

> Most regulations (ADA, affirmative action, etc.) fall into the "not woke enough" category of model regulation

For sake of argument, let’s assume this is true. Those rules are still structured as laws, with boundaries and legal recourse. The precedent being set, that the President gets “voluntary” deference from private companies, is un-American and will be abused by the left.

[techno303]

I don't think I'm smart/intellectual enough to respond to this

or i just don't understand what you're saying

[ceejayoz]

The ADA isn't about wokeness. It's about being able to live in society with a disability.

[techno303]

Limiting a business's ability to exist because they can't afford to accommodate a small percentage of the population is 100% about wokeness

[ceejayoz]

Well, we've just now defined safety rules, health codes, paying taxes, and the like as "woke".

You'd be calling the First Amendment woke if we proposed it now.

[freejazz]

ADA preceeded wokeness by at least 2 decades