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dotcoma

“free speech absolutist”.

ROTFL

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https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/13/23722574/welcome-to-hell

The previous regime at Twitter actually stood up to Erdogan.

free speech for people that should be absolute leaders, like himself. totally makes sense. /s

(free (speech absolutist)), not ((free speech) absolutist)

Just to be on the same page, you're advocating Twitter to get out of any country that does this, right? Is there any social network capable of functioning without being banned from the country by outright omit government rulings? fb? Ig? mastodon?

The reality is not all countries have 1A like the US. Unfortunately, any social media, message app, etc... has to comply (to a certain extent) with the government and try as hard at it can not to compromise its values.

No I believe his point was that Elon Musk called himself a free speech absolutist and is proving he is not.

He was asked this in a BBC interview and he said they have to comply with local laws (this was about India) and that they have to so their employees there don't go to prison. It's not the gotcha you think it is.

Because Twitter had a physical presence in India, with offices, etc.

Twitter rejected demands from the Turkish government to open offices way back in 2014 because they knew it was a risk.

And also technically doesn't matter, him not being a free speech absolutist still stands true

It's not a 'gotcha'. It's what he literally claimed. He claimed to be a free speech absolutist and would do whatever it takes to support free speech. People fell for this, because obviously it's not true and sustainable. And the fact that he's complying with censorship in Turkey because he has businesses and other liabilities there show one of the core problems with him running a social media business.

Paraphrasing Musk's rude response. Twitter has 2 options: a) comply and block the account in question and b) not comply and get banned in Turkey, which would, of course, make the account in question not easily reachable from Turkey. Either choice will restrict free speech.

This situation reminds me of the trolley problem.

>not comply and get banned in Turkey

like wikipedia? https://www.reuters.com/article/turkey-wikipedia/turkish-cou...

In case you missed it - the general election in Turkey is happening _today_. Getting banned weeks before and then getting un-banned some time in the future would have had a far more destructive impact on the political opposition.

Explain how it has a more destructive impact on the opposition?

Twitter is often used to distribute messages from the political opposition and to organize protests. Banning one account means a single voice is silenced before the election. Banning Twitter means it is harder for the opposition to organize an effective protest.

It's not just one account

You are not responding to my main point. Nitpicking the number of accounts is not helpful: we don't know how many accounts have been removed so your guess is as good as mine.

There is a time and a place for posturing. Choosing to block access to a popular opposition platform on the eve of a very meaningful election is probably not it.

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