Secret Blacklists

I may agree that it is typically better to transparently ban or suspend, like Elon has done with Alex Jones and Ye, than to suppress views or preclude content from trending. But it could be argued that the latter is a less restrictive form of moderation than the former.

 

Interesting. Not really surprising to me. I’m not sure why some think it is a scandal. Private company Social media obviously manage their content. Placing parameters of particular content generators is consistent with that.

 

It is pretty well known that these companies use algorithms to amplify content that draws attention, which often includes conspiracies and other bottom feeding garbage. So then they may choose not to amplify particular bottom feeders. Now I guess the argument is if you’re going to amplify liberal garbage then you must amplify right wing disinformation.

 

Yup .. and Musk is already doing the same thing banning accounts he doesn't like or that criticize him. I've got no probably with Twitter not promoting disinformation and troll accounts.

But here is the new Twitter ... this account got labeled as "hateful content" because he said Musk was "unlikeable" and someone who has been "desperate all his life for people to like him." ... Do we need a new Musk tread for that topic?

Some Twitter users who criticized Elon Musk say they've been suspended or told they violated rules due to 'hateful conduct'

 

Don’t we have a musk/Twitter thread?

 

Spoiler Alert. Pretty much every company does this. I've got customers I don't really like, generally cause they're a pain in the ass for whatever reason. I've dropped them, I've raised their rates. I give other customers better service if I have to prioritize.

Any business owners will tell you the same.

 

Elon and his disgraced journalists putting out this tripe are conveniently leaving out all the leftists who have gotten the same treatment because it doesn't fit the narrative.

 

The major point in all of this is none of this is AI. As you stated it is algorithms that are being used to identify content. That content is subsequently acted upon by individual(s). Someone must read the content and make a determination.

I don't know why any of this comes as a surprise to people. All of this started in the early days of AOL and Google. The test bed for all of this was China. You may recall Google had to make exceptions for operations in China regarding search criteria. The natural extension was to apply it to all platforms of communication.

The US government and corporations were paying close attention to the controls that could be used to manipulate the populace. So let's not kid ourselves about the consequences and understand a select few have absolute authority when it comes to the dissemination of information. Corporations, governments and MSM work hand in hand.

Now that Elon Musk and those willing to step into the breach have made this abundantly clear what remains to be determined is how the populace will react to this level of control. Keep in mind this is not simply a US issue it is a global issue. What I do know is simply removing the people who are complicit in this is not enough as others will step into those positions and carry on with business as usual.

 

How will the populace react to this level of control? I’d be shocked if they cared. This is a private company regulating l its content. Sure, yes in a biased way. So what’s new? Almost all media is biased. Why should we be surprised this is different?

I think what happens is in the effort to curb right wing extremist hate speech and disinformation, they end up also curbing legitimate contrarian speech also. Sure, that’s not great but it isn’t sinister. In some cases it is harder, some sources tread back and forth between disinformation and contrarian speech so it’s harder to regulate.

I’m not excusing it, but it isn’t a scandal and not shocking. People like Bari Weiss were blackballed for not confirming to the new liberal media standards and now she has made it a crusade and a brand. I prefer the approach of Sam Harris who has experienced the same thing but instead generates his own diverse content vs obsessing on the liberal social media trope.

 

And again you miss the point - when the government gets involved in what news media disseminates it becomes propaganda. Now if private industry makes the decision that is a horse of a different color. From the information we have at this point it is certainly leaning towards the government controlling information versus the media be it social or the MSM making a decision of their own accord.

 

Does anyone believe this same thing isn't going on with almost all media?
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to spend an evening flipping back and forth between ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN to know they are all preaching from the same book with the same coverage of the same news. Now like it or not, say it is fake or not but Fox News undoubtably is covering news that other sources have decided to not cover. With the influence that social media like Twitter has shouldn't we at least expect it to be somewhat fair?

 

Sorry, but I happen to think that's bullshit. I rarely watch the networks, but I look at the websites often. CNN covers the news of the day. Fox is usually just bad stuff about Democrats.

Here's a story I noticed on Fox yesterday. It's got Republicans like Jim Jordan claiming it's yet another Democratic attack on the Second Amendment. Of course, if you actually look at the bill you see it's sponsored by three congressmen: One Democrat and two Republicans.

Democrats push firearms purchasing ban for people who voluntarily give up their 2A rights
Legislation requires attorney general to establish list of people who agree to be blocked from buying a gun

 

I do think government involvement requires a different analysis. With respect to the media generally, I have little doubt that politicians, their agents, administrations, etc. on both sides have made efforts to influence coverage on CNN and Fox News, for example, whether that's the Cuomos on CNN or Trump and Hannity with Fox News. With respect to Twitter, most of the recent anger has been about its moderation of the Hunter Biden story. To the extent Joe Biden or the DNC were asking for certain content to be moderated or removed, that wasn't the government making the request - much less making the ultimate decision. If anything, it was likely Twitter going against the wishes of the incumbent administration. Not to say there aren't other examples though.

 

Dorsey's response implies Musk is only showing half truths, calls for Musk to release all the discussion and actions taken on these accounts so people can decide for themselves.

I agree, if Musk really wants to “be transparent”, then why just a few cherry picked screen shots?… be transparent….

 

And it appears that this batch was only released to one handpicked journalist.

 

From a few weeks back:



Anybody want to take a shot in how what Twitter did differs from this statement?

 

I tweet mostly about the Lightning and Rays. Sure hope Elon isn't a Bruins or Redsox fan. I'm screwed if he is.

 

Lists are just datapoints based on algorithms and reports/flagging. The lists would change based on the days the reports are run/parameters. To not keep track of such things would be malfeasance.

Just like mods here looking at data and reports

 

You are too much!!!!!
First you say what I said is bullshit but then follow it right up with I rarely ever watch.
If you don't watch, how can you have an opinion or possibly know what they air????
Oh, that is right, you are liberal, so you know everything. The stories that news media run over the air is quite different than what goes online.