Off Topic Politics Thread

I have a real problem with this. Even though i completely agree with it.

At the end of the day, the president is the president. He should not be censored by big tech. As much as I think he shouldn’t be allowed to incite violence, this whole thing makes me very very uncomfortable.

Twitter and Facebook now have more power/influence than the president of the United States. Let that sink in.

 

Private company decides who can use its service. Nothing new about that.

If I can be refused from a nightclub purely because I’ve got the wrong shoes on, I’m pretty sure a media platform that amplifies people’s views can ban someone for using one of the highest offices in the world as a platform to encourage widespread race-baiting and to start an insurrection.

 

Yep my argument is a president shouldn’t need social media to run a country

 

Social media released Trump from the scrutiny of the press. He could circumvent inspection and tell his lies to the people directly. He cannot complain about social media as he has gained more from it than anyone who is not called Kardashian...

 

If you're too unhinged for a Twitter account, and you're the President, the least of my concerns is that the President doesn't have a Twitter account.

 

Exactly this... it’s like no one can acknowledge the elephant in the room - social media has unlimited power now.

Politicians worldwide are quick to pretend that social media can’t influence opinions.

There have been no legal ramifications for Cambridge analytica etc. But by banning trump now, it’s a massive admission of guilt. Social media has changed the world.

And the owners of social media are now the judge, jury and executioner of free speech. The ramifications are huge.

 

Somewhat related point but I’ve always found it fascinating how people have been suckered into vehemently rejecting media groups - who they are told are biased, conspiring and forcing agendas - by politicians and political groups which by their very nature have an agenda and employ media professionals to mobilise their agenda and their support base online.

Modern society is terribly bereft of independent critical thinking and it’s quite terrifying.

 

He's jumping from account to account, and getting them all suspended. This is hilarious. And terrifying! But hilarious.


Edit:

 

It’s quite frankly pretty bad.

“I don’t like what you’re saying, but I will defend your rights to say it”.

Free speech is an absolutely essential part of a functioning democratic society.

We should be free to look at what trumps saying and judge for ourselves that he’s a crack pot. Look what’s happened - Biden won in a fair election.

if they can censor the president, they can censor anyone. What happens if the Twitter and Facebook executives decide to deplatform X because of Y? It’s a MASSIVE can of worms. As I said, this is a huge admission of guilt in the part they’ve played in trumps rise. But they were also guilty in Brexit and many other political agendas in recent history.

Plus this move will only prove to the MAGA crowd that the “establishment” is out to get them and make things worse. I think that Trump was the figurehead but not the cause of the unrest in America. He was the voice of the working class that has been betrayed by the massive wealth gap. There are many, many problems and banning trump is a terrible, terrible solution to any of them.

 

Beyond the fact that the First Amendment doesn't apply to private businesses, there are exceptions to free speech, and always have been. One of those exceptions involves calls to violence. Trump has repeatedly egged his supporters on in ways that led to five people dying. I have no qualms about his account being terminated. I have qualms about the fact that a person who cannot responsibly use social media is the president.

 

Freedom of speech does not mean you are free to say exactly what you want.

 

In the U.K. it doesn’t. In the US, it pretty much does.

 

I agree the key point you’re making about the power of social media but I think you’re kind of looking in the wrong place

They have been held to account for allowing the spread of hatred in their platforms and have treated Trump like any other user

I think the issue is more algorithms and echo chambers. The stuff you don’t see so clearly

And the people that deny the power of social media have always been there denying the power of the media, be it newspapers TV advertising or whatever

 

I heard DTLW, that it was the standard of your moves that got your entry to that club refused.

 

“some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely”

Yes, that’s the problem Donald.

 

The biggest problem with the BBC is that people are forced to pay for it imo. It's an outdated concept from a time where if you watched TV then you would undoubtedly watch the BBC.

About time it was scrapped and made subscription like everything else. I don't think you can justify it being mandatory anymore based on it's dropping viewing figures.

 

Oops.
In my defence I sometimes come on to this thread and find that a chunk of posts I haven’t read are not annotated as NEW, so I do sometimes miss a chunk of posts.

 

Donald Trump’s tweets led directly to the stormtroopers gathering in front of the White House, before he instructed them to break into the Capitol and kill a policeman by crushing his skull with a fire extinguisher.

I have no problem with this apology for a human being never being allowed any contact with the outside world ever again.