• @cygnus@lemmy.ca
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    1310 months ago

    Earlier this year, Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts, as he investigates so-called “digital militias” that have been accused of spreading fake news and hate messages

    I hate to defend that cesspool of a site, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for social media websites to ban accounts at the whim of foreign governments. Reasonable people should just choose to stop using Twitter altogether and leave it to the Nazis so that it can finally go the way of Gab et al.

    • Nate Cox
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      2510 months ago

      Disinformation campaigns are specifically designed to undermine the reasoning capabilities of people by inveigling them into believing (usually emotionally provocative) falsehoods, turning them into misinformation conduits in the process.

      It’s like saying that meth should be legal because reasonable people should just chose not to use it, ignoring the social and mental health issues that drive people to consume it against their best interest.

      Sometimes the right thing to do is to cut off the head of the snake before it can bite you.

      • @cygnus@lemmy.ca
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        710 months ago

        I get that, but Twitter isn’t based in Brazil at all. What happens if, say, China declares that certain posts are “misinformation”? Should those be taken down without complaint?

        • Nate Cox
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          1610 months ago

          We routinely censor content to placate China; like, all the time.

          I believe each country should get to have a say in what is permissible, and content deemed unacceptable should be blockable by region. I don’t think it’s reasonable to say “well it’s on the internet so it’s untouchable” simply because the server is in another country.

          • @PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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            210 months ago

            I believe each country should get to have a say in what is permissible, and content deemed unacceptable should be blockable by region.

            Agreed. But if I’m running a website, I’m not going to block content based on what some other country that I don’t live in wants and why should I?

            • Nate Cox
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              210 months ago

              I’m not sure why it’s so tempting to think of internet content as a special entity that defies otherwise established rules. Maybe it’s simply because no special effort is needed today to get the content across the border?

              Regardless, we aren’t talking about your geocities page, we’re talking about billion dollar businesses. Would it be appropriate to take your physical storefront across international borders and insist that the government there should have zero say as to what products you sell? If not, why is it appropriate to do the same with web content? X is selling content in the form of ad distribution, countries should get to decide if that content is appropriate for distribution.

              • @PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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                210 months ago

                Then they better figure out how to block it, I’m not going to assist the nanny-state.

    • @kristoff@infosec.pub
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      410 months ago

      Big international companies have no problem to create pseudo “national” versions of services if they can make more money with it.

      So there should not be a problem for the social media companies to create versions that meets local legislation.

      If you create a product and want to sell it in a certain market, you must also adhere to the laws of that country/region.