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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

What does 'demanding' mean? What are they going to do if you say no?

It sounds like they're asking for something and people don't have to give it if they don't want to. Facebook may stop doing business with them, but that's between them and Facebook.

You're talking like Facebook would have arrested them or something if they didn't show it. I'm not sure that's what's going on here. They're just asking for something. Say 'no' if you don't want to show them.

Unless they're showing up repeatedly or at weird hours of day but that's not implied at all. Sounds like it's just a business visit?

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according to a legal expert cited in the article what facebook did is a violation of the users privacy in India.

Secondly, in what world is it normal for a social media company to knock on someone's door for content they posted on their platform?

If I make a comment in the washington post online section, am I going to get 'business visits' from the moderators? This is entirely inappropriate, apparently not even legal in the country in question, and sounds like something out of a cyberpunk parody.

> If I make a comment in the washington post online section

This is formal political advertising, isn't? That's heavily regulated everywhere I know. It's not the same as posting a comment as an individual.

If you buy alcohol in a shop they ask for ID. Nobody thinks that's crazy. If you want to post a political advert they ask for ID. It seems like all they're doing here is rewording that to 'demanding' and making it sound like a police raid.

First off alochol is a strictly regulated substance and a drug. I hope we're not actually treating speech on online platforms as if it was a dangerous substance.

Secondly, when I go to the store I obviously consent to having my ID checked. What has never happened in my life is that I bought something on an online platform, and one week later the company representative shows up and asks me for my information.

It's one thing to enter some place of business voluntarily, it's an entire different thing for a private company to actually pursue me to my home. In fact, the alcohol store owner has literally no idea where I live, because unlike facebook store owners aren't in the habit of keeping track of my home address.

> First off alochol is a strictly regulated substance and a drug.

And political advertising is also strictly regulated.

> I hope we're not actually treating speech on online platforms as if it was a dangerous substance.

I don't know if you've been following the fake news situation of the last half-decade... it's a bit of a problem.

> I obviously consent to having my ID checked

I think you do as well when you post political adverts on Facebook, don't you? It's not like posting a comment or a business advert.

> It's one thing to enter some place of business voluntarily, it's an entire different thing for a private company to actually pursue me to my home.

Why do you use a word like 'pursue'? This wasn't a car chase. They just knocked on someone's door. 'Demanding', 'pursuing', you're using language to make it sound like something more dramatic than it was.

>And political advertising is also strictly regulated.

The user in question wasn't advertising anything. He was visited for a private post. The mentioning of political advertising in the article isn't related to this case.

Presumably the political post was considered a political advert? Otherwise why is there a bunch of totally irrelevant detail about that in the article?

Unfortunately the uproar over political meddling proves that it's much more dangerous than alcohol.

> This is formal political advertising, isn't?

No, it isn't. It was a personal post on politics. And from the way many posters here seem to suggesting that this was based on an "ad", it seems to be an attempt to change the narrative from the actual facts.

And as per indian experts, it violates our privacy.

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