Posted on 01/11/2018 6:11:10 AM PST by Red Badger
The shadow banning concept involves fraud though. Anyone who pays to target a conservative audience from an advertising standpoint (or however they generate revenue) would have standing.
I sens a class action CONSUMER FRAUD lawsuit forthcoming...
It seems to me that we are at a fundamental disadvantage here. Conservatives are by their very nature independent and self-sufficient. We tend not to engage in groupthink, or band together toward mutual advantage. A site like Freerepublic or (maybe) the Mormon Church is about as close as we come to that.
Liberals school like fish, and push anyone not like them out. They live in a round-the-clock echo chamber.
A true conservative recognizes Twitter’s right to do exactly what they’re doing - They’re a private business providing a “free” service that has attracted for better or worse a large swath of followers. Is a cult really any different?
The problem is, I can’t think of any exclusively “conservative” companies off the top of my head. Even companies formed by conservative entrepreneurs tend not to cull out liberals, preferring a meritocratic approach to employee diversity rather than a political one.
I don’t think it’s pearl-clutching to say our individuality is a liability in this conflict. Conservatives live independently and will be boiled alive individually as the hive mind who hates us finds ever more buttons and knobs to turn the heat up on us.
We can decry the behavior of the media, schools, Facebook, Google, and Twitter until the cows come home, but knowing the truth doesn’t protect us from it. We must put aside our individuality and fight back as one if we’re to have a chance.
I'm sure its just a coincidence.
It’s a private company so they can ban whoever they like. Just like JR can ban anyone here.
On the other hand, I think being ethical will dictate Twitter would tell everyone the rules upfront.
The scarier thing is that those under, oh, say 25 years old openly ADVOCATE for crap like this!
Well said.
BTTT.
The only reason I have a Twitter and Facebook account are to log into comment boards on newspapers/magazines and some places require you link one or the other.
Both are fake, neither have a real name and one is even a World of Warcraft character from when I used to play that game.
I am one of those fake users.
Twitter is a joke. I only use it for news, but not to tweet.
The power of Trump is that they really can’t ban him without GOOD cause. So he’s carrying the twitter conservative torch.
I don’t do twitter. 140 characters is just enough room to get yourself in huge trouble. First time I ever used my cell phone to post here (about seven years ago) I tried to be brief and was so utterly misunderstood that I was banned without warning.
I was once on a then-popular news/opinion site. The owner implemented an upvote/downvote system as part of his shift to the left.
If leftists down-voted you, you were likely to get banned.
If someone down-voted a leftist, the person who issued the down-voting was likely to get banned. It was all about eliminating dissenting voices.
.
Leftist politics in general are “all about eliminating dissenting voices.”
.
Leftist politics in general are “all about eliminating dissenting voices.”
One way...... or another............................
“The first amendment does not apply to private corporations. They can run their site as they see fit. The 1st Amendment applies to the government, not private businesses.”
Private businesses, as well as public corporations who advertise on Twitter have the right to know what their policies are. “Advertise with us, and by the way, we are secretly censoring some of your customers who may say things” is not a very good marketing strategy.
I imagine that Twitter's lawyers will argue that the censorship is disclosed inferentially in the concept of community standards to which users consent when creating an account. But if Twitter exercises censorship while creating the illusion that one is still on the board, it is defrauding its users. People who are censored are being defrauded of the time and effort it takes to post. Even more importantly, they being silenced by being enticed to speak to an empty room while thinking they are addressing a community that they have chosen to engage.
I have no objection to private service providers policing their sites. If it were me, I'd start with banning vulgar and profane words and move on from there to abusive language and personal attacks. But I would support a regulation requiring that people who are censored be notified of the fact, and why. The censorship should be visible on the board as wellso that users are aware when a discussion that they presume is open is, in fact, being controlled and steered.
140?
On November 7, 2017, the limit was doubled to 280 characters for all languages except Japanese, Korean and Chinese.......
To them, 1984 was an instruction manual................
Nope. It’s a private corporation.
You agree to abide by their rules when you sign up.................
Have a sockpuppet account following you. If the sock doesn’t get your posts, you know you’ve been gagged.
I’m not on Twitter, so I don’t know how it works but that’s what I might try.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.