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Censorship doesn’t win hearts and minds. If that’s the best we can come up with, we are no better than China - don’t tell me what I’m allowed to see or read online, or make it deliberately unpleasant - those amount to the same. That’s how you get me to antagonize you for the rest of my life.

I don’t need corporations or the state to filter data before it gets to me in any way shape or form. They can’t possibly do a good job at it anyway.

First generation out of Salazar dictatorship.

That is not really something that we should go back to.

This approach works very well for those that are capable of getting their news from multiple sources and are capable of critical thinking, but in many places the majority of the population is not like this.

If you look at some interviews of people in some regions of Ukraine and Russia you'll see that folks are convinced of what the fake stories that Russian state media has pushed along the years, namely that Ukraine is being controlled by Nazis.

It's not very difficult to see how the same propaganda could spread to other countries quite easily and become a threat to national security - one of the reasons why Moldova blocked off the sputnik.md domain today.

It's a touchy subject indeed, but when you have state controlled media that is spewing outright lies, I think countries have an obligation to block off those sources of fake news in order to protect the citizens that are most vulnerable to this sort of manipulation, especially in an age when people believe everything they see on social media.

I agree censorship is bad. But there should be rules that apply to all. If Russia blocks access to twitter then shall RT be allowed to continue posting for their Western audience while Russians are unable to evaluate the same content (or are totally prevented from using the platform)?

What I'm opposing here isn't that ordinary Russians are prevented from having their voice be heard but RT which is financed by Putin is somehow allowed to continue posting. If the playing field would be level then they would also be prevented from posting until they restore access to the rest of Russians citizens.

Would that be a fair compromise? What else is there that twitter can do to not have blood on their hands by enabling such an asymmetry? (keep in mind that information pushed into these networks is also seen by combatants and will shape morale, so the argument that twitter is somehow neutral is hard to justify)

>If Russia blocks access to twitter then shall RT be allowed to continue posting for their Western audience?

Unquestionably yes.

Why is HN becoming more and more in favor of China style restrictions on information?

Your argument is built on the idea that people are stupid and that they should be protected from propaganda. This is the same argument some make to justify regulating what English professors can teach in universities. I would not want to live in a country that outlawed RT.

The whole premise of Western freedom is that people can think for themselves. It's useful to practice looking at some different sources to practice how to think.

If somebody resorts to the lowest common denominator, they become the lowest common denominator.

Every country at war pushes its own narratives in it's own media. At various degrees, but that's still a very pregnant principle.

Ok, so only propaganda from certain regions is tolerated?

Unfortunately I've met people who think RT is more trustworthy than CNN. Not a lot but I've also had people send me links from there to prove some argument etc.

Still not sure if banning it is the right answer.

I wonder if a solution is to iframe these sites with a warning about disinformation at the top of every page.

Maybe browsers will eventually have fact checkers analyzing content and guiding the reader but still letting them read if they choose?

> Unfortunately I've met people who think RT is more trustworthy than CNN..

Like Abby Martin, a former journalist whom previously worked for RT? It's so easy to allege nowadays that people coming from working with a state media to be labeled a propagandists by them, guilt by association style.

> The question has to be asked if Russian State friendly media (like RT.com) which keeps disseminating RU propaganda on twitter, and has been influential in pushing "alternative narratives" needs to be made harder to access for people.

That is a decision every country should make for itself. If American and European countries don't want RT poisoning the minds of their citizens, they should black hole the domain and take the channel off the air within their country. Trying to prevent RT from reaching any audiences at all, such as in Africa or Asia, will be seen as an act of setting a singular global narrative for the conflict, the one crafted in Washington and London.