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Comment by notherthrowaway | Hacker News Reader

==The WH Press Secretary is a very, very loud voice that should be listened to whether you like it or not.==

This sounds pretty authoritarian. I can think of plenty of times this wouldn’t be true. What if she directly invited violence or knowingly spread foreign propaganda?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/feds-exam...

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How exactly is it authoritarian to say that the press secretary for the president of the United States shouldn't have their means of communications, on what's become essentially a public commons, rate limited by a corporation? The problem with your argument, and frankly more than half of the arguments in this clusterfuck of a comment thread, is that if we want to go that way we have to argue in favor of corporate sovereignty given the power these companies have. That's gross to me, for probably a dozen or so reasons.

Because nobody should be above the rules they agree to before using. You are arguing for political immunity based on holding a job that is neither elected nor approved by elected officials. That is authoritarian, whether or not you find it “gross”.

Your desires to insult those who disagree with you and fast forward to some “corporate sovereignty” fantasy aren’t relevant to the discussion of whether this action broke the terms Twitter has laid out.

==if we want to go that way we have to argue in favor of corporate sovereignty given the power these companies have.==

Or, we just allow them to manage their users, user agreements, and platform like we do other businesses. Your argument is to take that power away from companies and give it to government.

Who is talking about political immunity? I want to hear what my officials are saying! You would deny me that right. Who is the authoritarian here?

If it is not clear to you yet, there is no recourse to logical discussion. The desire to "silence" certain voices has been expressed clearly, and influential institutions have already led the way in this regard.

I predict that your views will likely find a far more receptive audiance in the generations that will follow. What is happening now is the result of decades of pedagogical prepration, and generations that really do not know what it is like to live under authoritarian regimes or cultures.

Those of us who immigrated to United States precisely to escape authoritarianism recognize the signs full and well. It is quite unsettling to see what is happening in this nation.

I know! I never thought I’d see unmarked government agents roaming American cities disappearing people [1]. Maybe the uproar over a private company enforcing their TOS is actually meant to distract from the true authoritarian threat?

[1] https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-us...

"[A] private company enforcing their TOS" is a disingenuous characterization of the issue. A de-facto public communication platform -- the "consumer product" in your 'technicalities' world view -- is obstructing disemination of expression.

Unmarked officers of the state grabbing people off the streets is not acceptable, either.

Both are features of mickey mouse states, the world over. There are various assumptions we make, when we try and make sense of the world. Most of these assumptions are based on good faith. Suspending disbelief regarding the unspoken possibilities for actual dynamics in play affords the insight that the above 2 items are not necessarily at odds for some interested actors.

==“[A] private company enforcing their TOS" is a disingenuous characterization of the issue. A de-facto public communication platform -- the "consumer product" in your 'technicalities' world view -- is obstructing disemination of expression.==

It is obstructing the dissemination of things that break its TOS. Should people be allowed to dox others on Twitter? People get banned for calls for violence pretty frequently.

What makes Twitter a “de-facto communication platform”? Is tiktok? Skype? Instagram? Twitter isn’t a public square, but the internet is, and this story is readily available on the internet.

Then you probably want to know that your public servants are doing that, don't you? Rather than not know at all? Authoritarian would be you're not allowed to know at all. I'm pretty sure we tried that sometime in history, oh that just rings a bell... and it didn't work out so well then.

Or didn't you realize that this insanity cuts both ways?

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