The Trump Presidency

[gameoverDude]

I have 0 love for Alex Jones but deplatforming him only opens way too many doors for other levels of censorship.

I have to agree. I honestly believe he's full of shit, but censorship in general is bad.

[Bacon McShig]

Boy, that lunatic in our store yelling to himself and smearing his feces on the walls sure is a pain, but if we kick him out, where do we draw the line? Slippery slope, guys.

Youtube is a private platform that bans people and takes down incendiary content all the time. The whales get to push the boundaries more solely because Youtube likes the money their audience's clicks bring, not out of any obligation to free speech. In effect, your principled stand against censorship really boils down to "Popular people shouldn't be held to rules because money."

[kedawa]

It's a practical monopoly that suppresses content that might scare off advertisers.
Don't pretend this is some principled stance they're taking.

[cigsthecat]

kedawa covered it, but once a platform is so pervasively ingrained into society as the Only Place Online For Videos Of Any Kind the situation requires a bit more finesse.

[Drewbacca]

I think Alex Jones is the worst personality to come out of new media. That said he was extremely popular so those claiming “capitalism!” are being disingenuous. This was a social decision not one made solely on profit. I don’t support censorship but it’s an owned network so Facebook can do as they like (ie this isn’t government censorship).

[Bacon McShig]

That said he was extremely popular so those claiming “capitalism!” are being disingenuous. This was a social decision not one made solely on profit.

???

Saying that profits afforded him a much longer leash before he was yanked back is literally the opposite of saying that the yank was motivated by profit.

[Drewbacca]

???

Saying that profits afforded him a much longer leash before he was yanked back is literally the opposite of saying that the yank was motivated by profit.

It's still not a capitalist argument (him being allowed to push it because money is, but not them pulling him). Unless is popularity has waned that makes money a constant—the going was good then, so it should be good now. What's changed? Policy? It's most likely social. Though for a social network maybe that's enough of a currency.

[Fe 26]

It was capatilism in that it was preventive. They didn't want to risk brand damage if there was another death.

[Bacon McShig]

Cuts both ways. They were reluctant to let him go because advertisers wanted on his money train, they were happy to let him go because advertisers were threatening to hop off it.

I'm not saying it was entirely capitalist or entirely social, I'm saying the goalpost of what's acceptable on the platform moves if you're profitable. The people I was hitting back at are framing it as though there should be no point where InfoWars should be culpable to the terms of service, ignoring that YT hands out bans and takes down videos of small fry contributors for lesser violations with aplomb. Insert Animal Farm quote here.

[gameoverDude]

Boy, that lunatic in our store yelling to himself and smearing his feces on the walls sure is a pain, but if we kick him out, where do we draw the line? Slippery slope, guys.

Youtube is a private platform that bans people and takes down incendiary content all the time. The whales get to push the boundaries more solely because Youtube likes the money their audience's clicks bring, not out of any obligation to free speech. In effect, your principled stand against censorship really boils down to "Popular people shouldn't be held to rules because money."

If I saw a lunatic like that in public, I'd whip out my phone & get the police on that fucker right away.

Censorship can be necessary sometimes, that's why I said "in general". There are exceptions. It's like a bazooka- necessary to take out a tank, but not to kill a fly.
Alex Jones is an exceptional case & I can understand why they would drop him. So I'd say Youtube is being right & just.

Now it's not like I care for Fox News, but censoring them would be bad. They're no Alex Jones- he's toxic, while they're merely annoying.

I've seen some offensive comments on certain Youtube videos, often in reply to someone else's comment. If I had seen anyone post an unnecessarily foul comment on one of mine, I would remove it & most likely block the poster's ass.