
Twitter’s Ban on Russia Today Ads Is Dangerous to Free Expression - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/twitters-ban-russia-today-ads-dangerous-free-expression
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intopieces
The quote that begins this article is from 1943. That brand of freedom of
expression was predicated upon a model of limited resources: That is, in order
to get your message to thousands of people, you needed to have a big
megaphone. Lots of people had to actively help you, be it printing newspapers
or pointing your radio antennas. It required effort.

Much of what is being touted as “in need of protection” is low-effort content
or content easily spread, or both. These developments ought to inform how we
understand corporatations’ free expression policies.

That quote did not consider free expression in the context of hackers with
spam bots. Is that part of free expression?

It did not consider organizations buying bulk user tracking data and creating
targeted ads to influence behavior. Is this part of free expression?

Is manipulation of the masses through technology a human right?

Does using an algorithm to filter content for individuals violate free
expression? What if the content is universally reviled and never seen? Is this
censorship?

Do corporations have a responsibility to give people things they don’t want?

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SamReidHughes
By "manipulation of the masses" are you referring to RT as the manipulator, or
is it Twitter by deciding what people should see?

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Y7ZCQtNo39
I would agree with this if it could be shown in practice that the U.S. is
incredibly impressioned by propaganda. I don't think it's bad for a private
company to decide that advertising interests that represent a foreign
adversary.

While purely it is correct that it is "dangerous to free expression", I think
it is worthwhile to take a step back and ask if all free expression is worth
protecting in a world where demagogues are elected by a relatively uninformed
public, where just enough of the voter base has a disdain for science and
fact-based reasoning to elect officials that corrode the democracy that is, in
part, responsible for upholding the tenet of free speech anyways.

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mc32
Well, what's the alternative to free expression? State sanctioned expression
ala China? I don't think that's better.

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Y7ZCQtNo39
I wasn't referring to the state, I was referring to a privately run business.

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otaviokz
Still, I'm afraid once the precedent is stablished, it can be just a matter of
time until other bans follow. I mean related to less "black and white"
situations, such as ads from national entities/groups/NGOs etc that are
portrayed as "nocive" by a political party or the media in general.

