Twitter Is Banning Multiple Alt-Right Accounts

http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2016/11/16/twitter-banning-multiple-alt-right-accounts/

by MrBlue • 10 years ago

27 13 10 years ago

zigzigzag• 10 years ago

You can't judge a man's principles by how he acts when he's in a position of strength, only when he's afraid and in a position of weakness.

I remember Twitter claiming it was a supporter of free speech. Oh how quickly that principle was flushed away the moment enough people started equating "opinions I don't like" with "abuse".

Does Twitter stand for anything at all any more? I don't think so.

maxerickson• 10 years ago

You can't judge a man's principles by how he acts when he's in a position of strength

If someone in a position of power uses that power poorly, it's probably okay to judge their principles based on those actions.

Here's an alternate take: don't reward a business for taking any stand for a short period of time. Businesses are prone to convenience in their actions. I don't feel betrayed by Twitter doing this because it is utterly predictable.

vuanotino• 10 years ago

I'd go ahead and call this a purge, when a few dozen accounts with a considerable amount of followers have been suspended for no apparent reason. Twitter saying they don't comment on individual accounts being suspended is really pathetic, when there's a more than obvious coordinated effort.

I'm not a fan of the so-called alt right, but this is starting to bother me, because it doesn't look like it's going to end well—where are they going to draw the line? Would they ban people such as Alex Jones? After all, under a strict definition of "hate speech", only a hippie would be innocent. Can I use the Twitter search feature and get the accounts of everybody posting "kill all whiteys" suspended?

Does Jack think there's hope for Twitter if he doesn't fucking leave already? It's in the nature of the platform; users will keep receiving insults and rape threats nonstop anyway. By upsetting users they can only accelerate it.

Sorry if I sound aggressive, but I couldn't ever imagine Twitter doing something like this. It really is something I could only imagine the zuck doing.

programmernews3• 10 years ago

Agree. This demonstrates the political direction that Twitter is moving towards. When I was more naive I used to believe that papers reported the news - now I realize that they apply their political bias to spin news. This has now happened with Twitter.

Newspeak is happening before our eyes but not in the direct way Orwell imagined.

razakel• 10 years ago

When I was more naive I used to believe that papers reported the news - now I realize that they apply their political bias to spin news. This has now happened with Twitter.

Papers never reported the news. They exist to create the news.

throwaway2747393• 10 years ago

It's a private business, they have every right to decline to provide service to (hateful, bigoted) people. Don't like it? Start your own damn website.

ManlyBread3• 10 years ago

Being a private business is not a shield against criticism or hypocrisy.

norea-armozel2• 10 years ago

So what do you expect Jack to do when he has shareholders who want him to make good on promises of profit and growth? Just let teenagers who want to be ironically racist scare off your typical suburanite? Seriously, this isn't rocket science. Jack has a LEGAL obligation to protect the shareholders. If you aren't not a shareholder, then you don't count, sorry.

norea-armozel2• 10 years ago

The fact the BOD of Twitter has been trying to sell the company for the last few months and the response from potential buyers has been negative (specifically, the user base being untamed and just a mess) means these moves are just part a larger attempt to sanitize the company. The fact people call this some sort of Great Purge or whatever is a joke. Do you really think you're the only ones that're going to be either banned or heavily filtered from the larger public user base? I'll put good money on the next move the Twitter devs do is set all accounts who flag themselves as adult/pornographic content as non-public or at least shadowbanned to non-following users. Why? Because porn may sell but it doesn't sell like Starbucks. So, don't think this some sort of mere hissy fit by SV liberals who lost the election. This is purely driven by the need to make good on investments. And the sooner the alt-right and "non-normie" kids realize that the better they'll be off (i.e. hosting their own damn sites and quit expecting everyone to subsidize them on their platforms).

Twitter Is Banning Multiple Alt-Right Accounts

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