Reddit enforces policy about 'Covid denialism' – bans 1 sub, quarantines 54 more | Hacker News Reader

Reddit enforces policy about 'Covid denialism' – bans 1 sub, quarantines 54 more

reddit.com

30 pointssva_9 comments

I thought this line in regards to the percentage of posts flagged increasing was interesting:

"While this data alone does not tell us that COVID denial content on the platform is increasing, it is certainly an indicator."

What I really thought was "if the official sources are wrong, then new information will appear as disinformation"

The conclusion I drew was not that misinformation was increasing, but more likely that the official narrative is crumbling.

This seems like a "canary in the coalmine" moment to me, where people are unwilling to accept the reality that vaccines have "failed" to do what they were supposed to do (even if they are still of benefit), and are doubling down of stifling dissent.

The vaccines did do what they were supposed to do: Prevent hospitalization and death.

People are watching whole percentages of their lives tick away. That's not the only thing they care about. We need an end in sight and we need to draw a line somewhere.

It was also supposed to have prevented tramsmission and get us back to normal. It failed in this regard.

I wonder what Aaron Schwartz would think of Reddit if he saw what it has become today.

Whatever happened to the idea that everyone should be free to speak whatever they want, no matter how wrong or ridiculous, and let the light of truth expose the charlatans?

That's one of the reasons I find true free speech platforms like Gab so refreshing. Sure, you'll even find some actual Nazis there, but it's better to just let them beclown themselves and get beat down by realists than to suppress them and force them to gather in the dark, where they can more easily pretend to be rational. BTW, you'll also find some of the best commentary on the web there, too, though you may have to hunt for it...

That idea isn't true (for private platforms) and hasn't ever been true outside of your own imagination.

If you've ever run an actual platform, you know that the idea of "everyone should be free to speak whatever they want, no matter how wrong or ridiculous" is not nor has it ever been true, in the case of private platforms. Platforms everywhere ban people who call for active and immediate harm to others. Platforms everywhere ban people who spam those platforms with unpaid for ads or phishing. Platforms everywhere ban posters for putting up literal random garbage (as in literally random ascii text). This isn't controversial, but it also isn't "allowing everyone ... to speak whatever they want". Now having said all that, if we look at platforms banning Covid misinformation, I ask you:

What is the fundamental difference? This isn't the government excluding someone or suppressing speech; this is a group of individuals A deciding that they don't want some other individuals B to say the dumb shit their saying on A's platform, leading A to ban B.

A normal response based on reality to this situation is to say things like "wow, fuck group A" or "wow, fuck group B". Even saying "but I like group A, they're in the right!" or "but I like group B and I think we should listen to what they have to say!" All of those are pretty normal, and sure, say what you want. But saying "truly this is the fall of what once was beautiful and good" is being more than a little dramatic.

Like I said, say what you want. But I disagree that some "fundamental shift is happening" here.

Most platforms prior to the mid 2000's had a ToS that only restricted pornography and illegal content. The idea that platforms should all be have massive ToS's and acceptable content policies is a pretty recent invention that only came about in the last few years.

Something else that has happened since the mid 2000's is that the internet isn't a separate, mysterious black box anymore. The internet is now merging with real life and all the negative parts of it are the ones spreading like wildfire. This creates a responsibility issue where now that websites can host more content and connect with the real world in more ways, they need to cover their own backs.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com