

Is Twitter censoring #flotilla? - ertug
http://twitter.com/search?q=%23flotilla

======
j_baker
Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.

~~~
rbanffy
Or automated procedures.

You can't call your immune system stupid when you have a severe allergy. It's
just doing what it evolved to do.

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helium
The search works for me, but only when I'm signed out. This leads me to
believe that this is some sort of technical issue. Besides, I don't think they
are stupid enough to do something like censoring this.

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TimH
Ahh - wait - I see if you search from the main site, it fails for me now too.
<http://search.twitter.com> works though. Weird. I expect it's due to a some
bug/performance failure rather than an intentional censorship. Otherwise
search.twitter.com would be censored too.

~~~
dasil003
Both work for me. I have to assume there was just some technical issue (due to
unusual volume?) and they have it resolved now.

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spif
No, it's not: <http://search.twitter.com/search?q=flotilla>

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rriepe
Please be a technical error.

They could undo a lot of good will (Iran elections, etc) just by censoring
this one thing.

~~~
lsc
Regardless of the root cause, I think twitter just took one to the face. This
looks pretty bad, even if they come out and say "oh, our spamfilter system
malfunctioned."

I sympathise, though. I've run email spamfilters before, and boy, people get
/pissed/ when false positives happen.

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TimH
I just flagged this story. Does that mean an op will review it?

I think it's wrong to state that Twitter is censoring, and is harmful. It
should have been posted as a question instead.

[edit: The poster's reviewed it.]

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gojomo
Headline draws controversial conclusion from incomplete data and should be
changed.

For example, this could be the result of automated measures to prevent
spamming the trending topics gone haywire. Or not. But accusing censorship
without knowing the whole story is just hair-trigger indignation.

~~~
ertug
Changed the headline to a question.

~~~
three14
When did you stop beating your wife?

I understand that you actually mean well, and mean the question seriously, but
in "Internet discussion" the question mark only protects the reputation of the
asker, but does nothing to protect the reputation of Twitter.

~~~
rriepe
An analogous question would be "Are you beating your wife?"

"Is Twitter censoring?" isn't assuming anything in the question.

~~~
three14
You're right, of course. But I still think that someone skimming the HN
headlines thinks, "Oh, Twitter probably censoring something or it wouldn't be
on HN" unless they read the comments.

~~~
davidw
Isn't that more of a comment on the state of the readership than anything
else?

~~~
three14
I think it's just human.

"#flotilla not working on Twitter. Censorship or bug?" would be a better
choice because it isn't a leading question.

Edit: Is a headline like "Did pressure from Apple cause a Foxconn employee to
commit suicide?" neutral, or just avoiding a libel suit?

~~~
davidw
Anyone who knows anything about twitter is not going to blink an eye at
"censorship or bug" - it's obviously the second.

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msy
I note the generally less controversial Stephen Fry is complaining about
unrelated Trending Topic oddness this morning, looks like they've screwed up
their system somehow and the #flotilla thing is a coincidence.
<http://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/15064838816>

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nhebb
I don't get the technical error message for #flotilla, but a search on the tag
acts like it's being ignored. However,
<http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23freedomflotilla> is a trending topic and
yields results.

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silversmith
The posted link shows fresh results. Clicking on the hashtag works too.
Where's the problem?

Edit: Safari on iPhone, located in Latvia.

~~~
mattwdelong
There WAS a problem. I think it`s purely technical.

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rriepe
People are now using #freedomflotilla instead of #flotilla, for those of you
who wanted to participate.

~~~
rriepe
And for that matter, #flotilla now works for me, when it wasn't working
before. Anyone else?

EDIT: And now it's not. This is too weird.

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TimH
I see people here agreeing, but when I visit
<http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23flotilla> it appears fine?

Here's what I see: <http://twitpic.com/1spne4>

~~~
pieter
I agree, I'd like to see a screenshot on how it is censored.

~~~
ComputerGuru
[http://neosmart.net/blog/2010/twitter-actively-censoring-
flo...](http://neosmart.net/blog/2010/twitter-actively-censoring-flotilla/)

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mattwdelong
It`s trending in Canada: <http://imgur.com/XaeuJ.png>

But wtf? I click it, and I can't access the search?

edit: I can report that clicking on #flotilla in trending topics is now
functional.

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fwez
It probably tripped an anti-spam filter.
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/may/31/twitte...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/may/31/twitter-
censoring-flotilla-questions)

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yigit
Also true for the word "İsrail" which is Israel in Turkish.

~~~
stfp
Indeed - both fail for me when searching, typing directly in the URL or when
clicking in tweets.

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TimH
I don't think they would do this. Care to explain?

~~~
ertug
I don't want to think they would this too but this is too weird.

The hashtag is about the humanitarian aid to Gaza:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10195838.stm>

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ertug
The hashtags #flotilla and #israil still gives "Something is technically
wrong." error in Turkey. I confirmed it with many people here.

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liedra
"Aid Flotilla" is trending in the UK.

Screenshot: <http://grab.by/4Fiy>

~~~
stfp
but try clicking on it

~~~
liedra
Oh, I see. I thought it was just about how #flotilla wasn't being reported in
the trending topics. How odd, indeed!

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ErrantX
Works for me intermittently; technical error.

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Emore
This could be either because:

1) Israel is pushing Twitter to censor these terms

2) Someone at Twitter HQ blindly supports Israel

Either way it completely destroys perhaps the most important usage for
Twitter: a voice for those in the epicenter of something happening.

~~~
dagw
3) Some sort of technical issue or bug.

~~~
lsc
Considering the interests of all involved, this seems to me like the most
likely answer. There is no way that people at twitter rationally weighed their
self interest and decided to start censoring things. There is zero upside, and
a rather large downside for twitter. It's just not in their financial best
interest. Israel isn't going to block them or take other action that would
financially harm twitter for simply publishing text messages from people. And
the publicity fallout from censorship is so obviously bad that there is no way
that any rational owner of twitter would approve a move like this.

My money is on a haywire spamfiltering system... but we will see. If the
people running twitter are not morons, we'll see an explanation shortly.

