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Comment by esoterica | Hacker News Reader

Do you have any concrete evidence that deplatforming doesn't work outside of rare anecdotal examples (e.g. Barbara Streisand's house) where it backfired?

The rabid insistence that deplatforming doesn't work reeks of wishful thinking rather than evidence-based reasoning.

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Deplatforming basically comes down to removing unpopular opinions or those not conductive to advertising and business. While you get some nasty fishes removed, you also get a lot of other users. Mostly those you don't hear about. That isn't something I would want on the platforms I use.

If you ignore them long enough, most followers will evaporate out of boredom or because it became too stupid. These movements live on reactions, positive or negative. Your solution is to make platforms less accessible.

> Do you have any concrete evidence that deplatforming doesn't work outside of rare anecdotal examples (e.g. Barbara Streisand's house) where it backfired?

I regret to inform you that it appears your comment has not aged very well. [0] Especially at the moment when you asked for 'any concrete evidence'.

Facebook and Twitter have censored and in some cases 'deplatformed' multiple accounts as soon as they shared the Biden-Ukraine post. The Twitter CEO has admitted that the handling of this was 'unacceptable' and 'not great' and has been summoned to testify on Oct 23rd 2020 due to this. [1]

They have given it more attention that it should have and it has backfired [2] They have successfully created the definition of the Streisand Effect; once again confirming the previous comment you replied to.

> The rabid insistence that deplatforming doesn't work reeks of wishful thinking rather than evidence-based reasoning.

Are you sure?

[0] https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/16/1010644/twitter-...

[1] https://news.yahoo.com/twitter-ceo-admits-handling-ny-013413...

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/16/twitter-backtracks-allows-sh...

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