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Trump threatens to 'close' down social media platforms

(techcrunch.com)
707 points patd | 7 comments | 27 May 20 12:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.014s | source | bottom
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Ididntdothis ◴[27 May 20 13:54 UTC] No.23323232[source]▶
I feel like we are slowly reaching the state the movie “Idiocracy” describes. I feel very torn about this. On the one hand I don’t think we should leave it up to companies like Twitter to censor things. On the other hand I find it hard to believe that the president is constantly claiming things without any evidence backing up. It started with the claims of millions of illegal voters in 2016 and the commission they started disbanding quietly after finding nothing. And now publicly spreading rumors about killing somebody.

It’s insane how little respect the US has for the integrity of its political system. As long as it may hurt the “other” side everything is ok without regard to the damage they are constantly doing the health of the system.

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thatwasunusual ◴[27 May 20 13:57 UTC] No.23323289[source]▶
> On the one hand I don’t think we should leave it up to companies like Twitter to censor things.

Is it really _censorship_ to fact check tweets? I mean, Twitter hasn't _removed_ (i.e. censored) any tweets from Trump, just added an annotation.

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1. Ididntdothis ◴[27 May 20 14:02 UTC] No.23323383[source]▶
“Fact checking” is a nice exercise and somewhat helpful but a lot of people say half baked or stupid things all the time, including myself. Part of a healthy discourse is the ability to say questionable things and having a discussion.

Once you start fact checking where does it end? A lot of people have different views on different things and there is no clear right or wrong.

What I would like to see is that the US political system starts fact checking itself and stop spreading misinformation. This should be done out of self respect.

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2. _never_k ◴[27 May 20 14:06 UTC] No.23323447[source]▶
>Once you start fact checking where does it end?

With all the facts being checked?

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3. whatshisface ◴[27 May 20 14:12 UTC] No.23323560[source]▶
I imagine he's suggesting that it will end with all the opinions being checked.
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4. dspillett ◴[27 May 20 14:22 UTC] No.23323739{3}[source]▶
Nothing wrong with that, particularly if those opinions are communicated in a way that makes them look like statements of fact.

Someone being able to say "I think your opinion is wrong" is no less a freedom of speech matter than someone being able to state an opinion in the first place. Freedom of speech does not, or at least it should not, give special privilege or protection to the first person who speaks.

5. Ididntdothis ◴[27 May 20 14:32 UTC] No.23323895[source]▶
The line between fact and opinion can become very blurry. Whatever you do there will be a lot of issues that can’t be fact checked.
6. heurist ◴[27 May 20 14:32 UTC] No.23323910[source]▶
This is a tough position for Twitter because they now have to fact check practically all of his tweets. Any tweet not checked will be seen either as tacit endorsement by Trump's political opponents or 'undeniable truth' by some portion of their users regardless of validity.
7. heurist ◴[27 May 20 14:36 UTC] No.23323955[source]▶
Public officials choose to live a live under intense scrutiny and should expect to be challenged on their positions and able to provide well-reasoned arguments for their opinions and actions. "Fact checking" is a necessary component of a functional democracy. As small and local news outlets die en masse from the social media takeover, someone needs to pick up the slack.