Tumblr Suspends Violent Extremism Researcher's Account | Hacker News Reader

Tumblr Suspends Violent Extremism Researcher's Account

boredjihadi.tumblr.com

31 pointsgee_totes20 comments

this brings into discussion what identifying propaganda actually entails when corner cases like this pop up. interesting circumstances.

it makes me wonder: if you're actively doing research on these modern day areas of conflict and the culture that's in them, would you rather ask for forgiveness or permission when posting your material to a site that monitors material of that nature? and if it was so easy to gain forgiveness, what would stop people from framing said areas of conflict in different lights under the guise of research?

I imagine asking a major social media platform for permission is not gonna get anyone anywhere. What should stop people is looking into whether the framing is obviously fake.

I can't see how one would ponder either of these things before the much simpler 'is this a good platform on which to distribute my research on a highly sensitive topic' and then somehow arrive at 'yes, yes Tumblr is'.

serious question: where would you rather put it? new information develops every day, and I'm not sure where you'd post such information.

though I agree, tumblr isn't exactly my first thought. :P

I have no idea, it's just that if this was my job, I'd probably think long and hard about it and likely wouldn't come up with tumblr. This guy seems to be a serious academic:

http://www.belfercenter.org/person/christopher-anzalone

Maybe at an academic institution would be best. Tumblr seems like an obviously iffy choice with a high risk of the work being misidentified/misinterpreted and then tossed out.

I can't believe that apparently some people see "Tumblr" but not the "researcher employed by NATO". It's just text and images and video, the "place" where it's at matters only for the people having to pay for pipes, really. Some of the best things in the world get posted in totally random places, it has always been thus.

The 'place' matters an awful lot. For instance, it's perfectly fine to take a poop in your own bathroom. Something being digital doesn't magically free us from context and norms.

Somebody's account has been suspended. Ok, why? "I assume he has been suspended because Tumblr thinks Chris is spreading jihadi propaganda.". So (unless it wasn't posted for some reason) nothing to back this up at all and we actually don't know why he was suspended.

Tumblr has a bad reputation for suspending / terminating blogs with little to no reason. I do wish they were more transparent about their actions.

So we're not allowed to draw inferences now? It's not like tumblr is gonna issue a press release to spell it out, so waiting for that before talking about the thing seems counterproductive.

Signal is preferred to noise.

If you have actually worked at Tumblr, or another social company that has to deal with blocking accounts, and can provide some analysis of what goes into these decisions (is it automated? How many people are involved? How much discretion is given to individual employees? What are the legal implications if Tumblr did nothing?) that would be interesting and informative.

What's your point?

If Tumblr doesn't want bad publicity over it then they should tell people why their accounts are being closed.

They can't be bothered, so it's left to rumor and speculation.

This isn't a court of law. Intuition is permitted.

Tumblr always felt like an odd place for anything academic or serious. Am I alone in that thought?

Not at all.

As it is said on Tumblr itself: "This Blue Fucking Hellsite"

This is one of the taboo subjects of our times. It's ok to be a jihadi and post your stuff, but to criticize the jihadi culture and expose its inner workings is not ok since it implies moral judgment. We can't have any of that.

There is no evidence that is the case. In fact, the linked article says:

'I assume he has been suspended because Tumblr thinks Chris is spreading jihadi propaganda'

Which would be Tumblr doing the exact opposite of what you say they do.

But then he goes on to say that "Suspending his account makes all the less sense considering the numerous genuine jihadi propaganda blogs that Tumblr has not taken action against." Which would be Tumblr doing the exact thing I said they did, as are the down voters.

Are jihadist's tumblrs suspended?

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