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Twitter, Like Facebook, To Remove Posts Denying the Holocaust (bloomberg.com) 300

Two days after Facebook announced that it would block posts that deny the Holocaust, Twitter decided to do the same. Bloomberg reports: Twitter's policy doesn't explicitly state that denying violent events is against the rules, but the spokeswoman confirmed that "attempts to deny or diminish" violent events, including the Holocaust, would be removed based on the company's interpretation of the policy. "We strongly condemn anti-semitism, and hateful conduct has absolutely no place on our service," she said in a statement. "We also have a robust 'glorification of violence' policy in place and take action against content that glorifies or praises historical acts of violence and genocide, including the Holocaust."
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Twitter, Like Facebook, To Remove Posts Denying the Holocaust

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  • by Kunedog ( 1033226 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @06:20AM (#60609272)
    So /. posts this distraction, while both Twitter and Facebook are censoring a story because it's damaging to Biden.

    https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/... [nypost.com]

    https://twitter.com/SohrabAhma... [twitter.com]

    This is a Big Tech information coup. This is digital civil war.

    I, an editor at The New York Post, one of the nation’s largest papers by circulation, can’t post one of our own stories that details corruption by a major-party presidential candidate, Biden.

    Told you so months ago:

    https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]

    If they thought [they] could get away with it, the social tech giants would just make their policy the same as the crazy knitting forum:

    https://www.ravelry.com/content/no-trump [ravelry.com]

    New Policy: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration

    The goal is simply to get as close to that policy as possible through ever broader and vaguer (and selectively-enforced) TOS language and obstructionism like this. It'll get much worse the closer we get to the election (like it already has).

    • by Jarwulf ( 530523 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @06:35AM (#60609300)
      Thats the problem. Once you appoint a gatekeeper of truth first they're deleting flat earthers and vaccine hoaxes then they're deleting offensive or misleading claims and before you know it they're wading into political waters being the judge jury and executioner over stuff a sane reasonable person can't honestly deny reasonable people can disagree over. It just grows and grows by degree. Even if the megacorps didn't want it to get to this point which frankly they seem like they did, its a constant ratcheting pressure to do more and more once you 'solve' the last problem and the baying mob needs another target to focus its attention on.
      • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @06:50AM (#60609310)

        Thats the problem. Once you appoint a gatekeeper of truth first they're deleting flat earthers and vaccine hoaxes then they're deleting offensive or misleading claims and before you know it they're wading into political waters being the judge jury and executioner over stuff a sane reasonable person can't honestly deny reasonable people can disagree over. It just grows and grows by degree. Even if the megacorps didn't want it to get to this point which frankly they seem like they did, its a constant ratcheting pressure to do more and more once you 'solve' the last problem and the baying mob needs another target to focus its attention on.

        Uh, when the "gatekeeper of truth" turns out to be social media, the problem isn't that tool. The problem, is the tools using it who were dumb enough to define the worlds largest rumor mill as a "gatekeeper of truth" when we should have kept social media in the entertainment category it belongs in.

        The only thing that "grows and grows" among the masses, is ignorance. And now Free Speech is at deaths door, all because we placated to stupidity instead of intelligence and wisdom. We live in a world ruled by narcissism now. It was pretty damn easy to fix stupid. Ignore it. Too much to ignore now. They're on every news channel and on every campus, because we value it so.

        • ^THIS!!

          QAnon would not be disrupting our society and elections right now.

          When bullshit is not treated like true facts and is called censorship, we are in real trouble.

          When ones opinion is based on bullshit, it should be called out and it does NOT have equal weight against other opinions.

          There is difference of opinions based upon the facts. And then there is difference of opinions because one side is basing their opinion on bullshit.

          I was listening to Amy Barrets confirmation hearing yesterday and a REPU

      • by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @08:58AM (#60609528)

        Yep. Remember when Fen-Phen got banned? Fast forward and imagine deleting posts critical of a pharmaceutical company. Why? Because they happen to be the biggest Ad revenue and we would not want to upset out biggest client would we? Once precedence is set, they just keep expanding. It is the boiling a frog approach to taking away your freedom.

      • by SirSlud ( 67381 )

        There have always been "gatekeepers" since the dawn of communication, just like 2000 years ago there were plenty of idiots who were sure that nobody today would be able to talk about their government because free speech is dying! It's such a fucking stupid hill to die on because it's so ridiculously more complicated than that. It conveniently sidesteps having to talk about actual details of who is gatekeeping what and how and for how long, and how things improve and get worse in different areas about differ

      • All slopes are equally slippery, eh? Simply deciding to build public roads has made the US fully and totally Socialist/Communist, right? Because roads are for the "common good" which means Communism and this hands over the means of road production to the state.

      • No the problem is Social Media doesn't have mechanism to weigh the quality of the messages. Official news sources, even bias ones (Not entertainment sites pretending to be news [foxnews.com]) will have a process to validate information as it gets it, to make sure it is truthful, also they will offer retractions if they found the information they has shown to be inaccurate.
        They have this overhead to make sure what happens on social media doesn't happens to them. Because if some crazed conspiracy theory gets equal weight

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      Fox hasn't reported the same story—they've only reported that the NY Post is being prevented from sharing it. Doesn't that tell you they want to wash their hands of culpability if it turns out the Post is spreading bullshit, like it usually does?

      Or have you forgotten that Trump was impeached for trying to plant witnesses for this exact conspiracy?

      • by BrainJunkie ( 6219718 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @07:09AM (#60609328)
        What liability do you think Fox is avoiding? Major news outlets have published a mountain of information that later turned out to be false, and suffered little for it. Even in the context of an election.

        Twitter's CEO has apologized for how this was handled but I don't think they've changed much so it seems to be an empty apology. Their reasoning for blocking it is disturbing, that it contains "hacked" information. Imagine if that same logic were applied to Snowden or Manning or Watergate.
        • What liability do you think Fox is avoiding? Major news outlets have published a mountain of information that later turned out to be false, and suffered little for it. Even in the context of an election.

          Folks please. Let's stop using the word "news" when referring to media outlets. Their job, is to get ratings now, not deliver the news.

          Which is exactly why Clicks, Likes, Hype, and Bullshit to get ratings, doesn't merely go unpunished. It's fucking rewarded.

          And the end result, is the death of truth and common sense. Good luck believing anyone spewing anything online 10 years from now, when even AI will be struggling to tell what's fake. You'll be calling your own mother a liar before you realize you w

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
          Dorsey even compared to the other SV CEOs has been particularly brazen with the active selective censorship and trend manipulation. Right up there with reddit. I think he absolutely knows and is intentionally pushing an agenda. And he's just feeding the critics whatever line he can to keep doing it as long and as much as possible.
        • Or the Pentagon Papers.
        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          The liability of publishing personal information without consent.

          They could report the story without that information included, it's enough to say that they verified it. But that's the other issue here - it's a completely unverified claim. There is a third issue too, that it's merely an invitation and doesn't show that any meeting actually got scheduled or took place. So really there is no story here at the moment, the only thing of actual note is that some social media blocked it and conspiracy nuts got th

          • The liability of publishing personal information without consent.

            There is no such liability for Fox here, nor for any of the social media companies blocking this.

          • by sabbede ( 2678435 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @09:11AM (#60609548)
            Newspapers have faced those charges in the past and won.

            And if you happen to remember late 2016, there was a rather famous dossier of Russian disinformation that was published and widely acclaimed despite nobody ever bothering to try and verify its claims - which were false.

            News and social media companies have clear biases. They treat information very differently if it supports their goals and narratives than if it challenges them. I guarantee you that if Trump were the one implicated in this report, it would be the top story at almost every major outlet and would be widely shared on Facebook and Twitter. Just like in 2016 when lies that worked for Democrats were met with applause and Pulitzers, but we weren't supposed to even acknowledge that Hillary's damning emails were out there.

            In the end, it is up to the individual to judge the information and determine for themselves what to believe. In order to do that, they need to have access to all the relevant information, even if social media companies are afraid of it.

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              They may have won but perhaps Fox just wants to be responsible this time. I mean it's Fox but it's possible.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by sabbede ( 2678435 )
          I can't help but be reminded of the Steele Dossier, it's publication, wide circulation and discussion in 2016 by "journalists" who didn't bother to authenticate or verify the contents. It turned out to be Russian disinformation paid for by Hillary, but is Twitter intervening to stop the ongoing Trump-Putin conspiracy theory the dossier created?

          It is clear what is happening in the press and social media companies. The hypocrisy and blatant political bias is beyond appalling. They willingly spread lies a

          • The irony is, had they just shut up and let trump hang himself, he would have eventually done just that. They have inadvertently done more to get him votes, out of sheer anger that they had the nerve to blatantly lie to us, than any other method of campaigning. What is worse is that they create an entire double-think dystopian event where you can begin to accept things as true and a lie, at the same time. Now they single handedly have half the population convinced we now elect Kings to the role of presidenc

          • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

            by nomadic ( 141991 )

            A lot of the Steele dossier allegations turned out to be true. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

          • by paazin ( 719486 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @09:41AM (#60609652)

            I can't help but be reminded of the Steele Dossier, it's publication, wide circulation and discussion in 2016 by "journalists" who didn't bother to authenticate or verify the contents. It turned out to be Russian disinformation paid for by Hillary, but is Twitter intervening to stop the ongoing Trump-Putin conspiracy theory the dossier created?

            Incorrect, actually. It was funded initially by anti-Trump Republicans and then funded as oppo by the Clinton camp.
            And FYI, the Steele Dossier was generally determined to be factual, despite claims to the contrary:

            The Mueller Report substantiates the core reporting and many of the specifics in Christopher Steele's 2016 memoranda, including that Trump campaign figures were secretly meeting Kremlin figures, that Russia was conducting a covert operation to elect Donald Trump, and that the aim of the Russian operation was to sow discord and disunity in the US and within the Transatlantic Alliance. To our knowledge, nothing in the Steele memoranda has been disproven.

            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              by inhuman_4 ( 1294516 )
              No the claims in the Steele Dossier were unsubstantiated and uncorroborated. That's what the wording in your quote is dancing around:

              The Mueller Report substantiates the core reporting and many of the specifics in Christopher Steele's 2016 memoranda, including that Trump campaign figures were secretly meeting Kremlin figures, that Russia was conducting a covert operation to elect Donald Trump, and that the aim of the Russian operation was to sow discord and disunity in the US and within the Transatlantic Alliance. To our knowledge, nothing in the Steele memoranda has been disproven.

              The reality is that the FBI tried to verify his claims and couldn't:

              The FBI document laying out the efforts taken by the bureau to attempt to verify the claims in British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier has been declassified and released, showing the bureau’s unsuccessful efforts to confirm the dossier’s claims of collusion between the Kremlin and then-candidate Donald Trump.

              link [washingtonexaminer.com] The Steele Dossier was nonsense. Just because they couldn't prove that the claims were fabricated doesn't mean they are factual.

              • The Steele dossier was never used as final evidence for any of the FBI allegations, though when first presented to them they did investigate it but stopped when it was determined that it was worthless. However there was lots of other evidence that did pass scrutiny that did lead to the FBI's conclusions. You can't use the initial use of the Steele dossier to claim all evidence is equally tainted and unreliable.

      • Fox hasn't reported the same story—they've only reported that the NY Post is being prevented from sharing it.

        What?? This is literally their top news story right now Hunter Biden email story: Computer repair store owner describes handing over laptop to FBI [foxnews.com].

      • Fox News isn't a news site, it is an entertainment site. The pretend to be a news site, but will just publish stuff that they think will keep their core viewers. To keep its viewership up, they love to make the point that "We are giving you the whole truth, avoid all the others news, those are Liberal lairs while we give you the whole picture"

        Are other news sites Bias, yes they are. You really should be sure that you read different news sources as if they are truthful they give a better picture of the pro

    • by gmack ( 197796 )

      Wake me up when they release the emails with mail headers so we can check and see if they look like they were sent from the correct servers.

    • Contrary to what slashdot likes to believe, twitter and facebook are private entities and can publish whatever stories they choose. I saw the story all over my google news feed yesterday.

    • Because the source is dubious at best? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/1... [nytimes.com]

      More sources for you conspiracy nutjobs https://apnews.com/article/ele... [apnews.com]

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/1... [nytimes.com]

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by GameboyRMH ( 1153867 )

      So /. posts this distraction, while both Twitter and Facebook are censoring a story because it's damaging to Biden.

      Also because it is so far factually unsupported - in fact it contradicts a number of established facts - and is likely a work of Russian propaganda.

    • by Swampash ( 1131503 ) on Thursday October 15, 2020 @08:28AM (#60609454)

      You have it around the wrong way. It's not that they're on Biden's side and so they're trying to make him win. It's that they think Biden's going to win so they're trying to look like they're on his side. Their risk analysis guys have woken up to the fact that having a business model of "be the President's unofficial PR team" only works if the Oval Office never changes hands.

      If Biden wins, Elizabeth Warren will be at the cabinet table and she'll be carrying a bat with BREAK UP BIG TECH written on it. These social media whores are just preparing their "please don't hit me Miz Warren, we're the good guys, look at how we banned those posts" performances.

      F*ck them all.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by nomadic ( 141991 )

      Oh, did they stop publishing the NY Post? Is the story available on the NY Post's website? Why should twitter be compelled to carry a story that's a political hit job developed by Republican operatives to try and save the chances of a deranged moron who is easily the worst President in American history. The New York Post is a sleazy right-wing Rupert Murdoch tabloid that coordinates with right-wing nutjobs to attack Democrats and doesn't deserve your sympathy.

      • Twitter claims to be a platform instead of a publisher and enjoys the tax and legal protections of a platform.

    • worst part of that : "could not post because Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful"

      is "our partners" the ad companies, or someother groups that we don't know of?

    • by _xeno_ ( 155264 )

      So /. posts this distraction, while both Twitter and Facebook are censoring a story because it's damaging to Biden.

      The story even made Ars Technica [arstechnica.com], which Slashdot frequently posts stories from, so I was kind of shocked by its absence on this site, given all the other posts about social media censorship.

      It's weird because by censoring it, they've effectively Streisand Effect-ed this story. Now everyone knows about Biden and how he got a prosecutor fired for investigating his son. (Which isn't news, incidentally, this story broke in January. What's news is that they now have the emails that prove that Biden did it intent

  • This is easily detectible too...
    • This is easily detectible too...

      Well to be honest, I think the world has chosen to let that group go for the sheer comedic value they bring.

    • Those people are less dangerous.
      Holocaust denial is used as part of a larger effort to push Antisemitic policies, which in turn are targeting to reduce the freedom of a group of people, for the sake of their religion or upbringing.

  • If only we had some way, to determine what was (most likely) true (such as libraries of books written at the time) and historical records that haven't been re-written since.
    Disinformation is the bane of the modern world, and has reached unsustainable levels (imho), As far as I can see, turning round to someone and saying "You're not allowed to peddle outright fibs as truth and attack people who disagree with the falsehoods" is not censorship, it's actually being reasonably responsible.

    There's a place for m

    • by v1 ( 525388 )

      If only we had some way, to determine what was (most likely) true (such as libraries of books written at the time) and historical records that haven't been re-written since.

      While "history is written by the victorious" sometimes does apply, in this case there's a mountain of physical evidence that exists to support the written accounts. Or you can go visit some of the camps if you really think it's a hoax. Photographs taken at the time of the liberation are easily tested for authenticity.

      The reality of wha

      • by malkavian ( 9512 )

        Yep, there is an mountain of evidence (which is what I was hinting at). I'm firmly of the opinion that the Holocaust happened, and that no rational person would think otherwise.
        When I was a kid, I met a few of the people who'd actually been there and listened to the stories they had to tell. They couched it in terms a kid would not get terrified by, but it's still not happy telling.

        And yes, history is written by all those factors, and libraries are the place that they persist, and will likely be the sourc

    • by dbialac ( 320955 )

      A few centuries ago it was misinformation to claim that microorganisms were responsible for disease. Accepted facts change, new science emerges that discredits old. Suppressing "disinformation" suppresses science along with it.

      • by malkavian ( 9512 )

        Incorrect. There was no scientific reasoning that had been proven for disease, and thus it was a whole horde of made up thoughts as to why it may happen. The scientific method hadn't got around to actually discovering what it was.
        Claiming micro-organisms were responsible would have been one more theory at the time, not misinformation. And having postulated that, it would have had the benefit of being disprovable if someone could, and you could disprove it by getting a microscope and going to have a look.

        • by dbialac ( 320955 )

          Did you not take a class called "History" and learn about a period called "The Middle Ages?" You're taking a modern perspective on science and acting as though though 800 years ago people treated science the same way. Put differently, Galileo didn't die from natural causes.

      • Untested theories are not science.

  • What about flat Earth? The "empty cupboards" falsehood? There's a lot they could ban yet they chose a very narrow focus.
  • Congrats, I guess we'll have also to wait decades for some of the other crap to get deleted?

  • Bad precedent (Score:3, Insightful)

    by onyxruby ( 118189 ) <onyxrubyNO@SPAMcomcast.net> on Thursday October 15, 2020 @09:47AM (#60609678)

    First for the record, if you deny the holocaust you're a douchebag and worthy of complete contempt. Second, this is nothing more than an excuse to justify censorship for things that they want to censor such as stories that support conservative views.

    The only solution is stop all censorship altogether. That means you have to let antisemitic douchebags deny the holocaust. They are making asses of themselves, and hopefully someday they might visit a place like Auschwitz and realize the horrors of what previous generations of anti semitic douchebags did.

    Your not going to stop douchebags like that through censorship. The only way to prevent history from repeating itself it to allow people to talk freely without censorship or threat of being cancelled. You can't do that with censorship.

    • The social media companies should let any post stay, but amend them with a link to the truth.

      My wife went to Auschwitz during college overseas. She said it was terrible. The beaches of Normandy weren't so hard, but the graves were.

      Attempting to de-Godwin, with flat Earth people, who the fuck could be so stupid?

An Ada exception is when a routine gets in trouble and says 'Beam me up, Scotty'.

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