White House launches tool to report censorship on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter

[Haruko]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/15/18626785/white-house-trump-censorsip-tool-twitter-instagram-facebook-conservative-bias-social-media

On Wednesday, the White House launched a new tool for people to use if they feel they've been wrongly censored, banned, or suspended on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

"Too many Americans have seen their accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear 'violations' of user policies," the site reads. "No matter your views, if you suspect political bias caused such an action to be taken against you, share your story with President Trump."

A Twitter spokesperson responded to the new tool saying, "We enforce the Twitter Rules impartially for all users, regardless of their background or political affiliation. We are constantly working to improve our systems and will continue to be transparent in our efforts."

Facebook, Google, and YouTube did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Other members of the Trump family, like Don Jr., have also voiced concern of the deplatforming of right-wing activists. In a tweet last month, President Trump's eldest son wrote "The purposeful & calculated silencing of conservatives on Facebook & the rest of the Big Tech monopoly men should terrify everyone," after Facebook announced that it would banning conspiracy theorist Alex Jones along with other far-right pundits and activists.

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The tool also collects significant personal information from the user, and near the end invites users to opt into email newsletters from President Trump, "so we can update you without relying on platforms like Facebook and Twitter." A separate question points users to an extensive user agreement, and makes clear that "you understand this form is for information gathering only."

A later question asks the user what year the Declaration of Independence was signed "just to confirm you aren't a robot." This is an unorthodox anti-scripting technique, and a generally ineffective one, given the relative simplicity of automatically entering a number.

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IMO, defending Alex Jones like this should be seen as one of the biggest self-owns a rube like Don Jr can do. But what do I know...

Censor me if old.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Skim read that as just "White House launches tool" and hoped that someone had chucked Trump out of a second-floor window.

 

[Malleymal]

Man... when this White House wants to do something, they sure don't waste time or resources. Lol

 

[Loudninja]

Pointless and stupid.

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

 

[Loudninja]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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Are we really going to do this?

 

[Cation]

Even the websites font makes me feel uncomfortable...

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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Yes, I too like to hear nazis and racists push their agenda as I argue for their freedom to hinder and destroy our forward progress in society.../s

 

[TaySan]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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This is not "censhorship". No matter how badly Trump wants it to be.

 

[TreeMePls]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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Private corporations banning people because they break ToS isnt censorship.

 

[Treestump]

MY FREE (HATE) SPEECH!

 

[rpm]

"Help, the free market isn't letting me be a Nazi on the Internet, save me big government"

 

[Inuhanyou]

ah yes, the free speech warriors who are plain hypocrites complaining about censorship again. how comical it would be if they were not running the goverment

Trump is the same dude who tried to sue bill maher and the onion over a joke and satire piece respectively

 

[Calderc]

Petty ass motherfuckers.

 

[ncsoft]

So this is what they choose to focus on...

 

[SigmasonicX]

Took a quick look, seems like there's nothing stopping users from just sending whatever. You can even put in a nonexistent zip code.

 

[Hollywood Duo]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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So are sweeping generalizations

 

[Calderc]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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Good thing this is neither of those!

 

[Clefargle]

Will this work on /pol/? Lol

 

[hurlex]

Is it legal to ban someone from a website even if it were politically motivated? Pretty sure it is.

 

[PMS341]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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They are private platforms that can literally ban whoever they like. It isn't bad to ban people who push conspiracy theories that cause literal suicide.

Also, silencing the voices of white supremacists and Nazis is a very good thing, so I'm not certain why you feel uneasy. Deplatforming works.

 

[GuessMyUserName]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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Pretty simple to know how to feel - any such tool from the Trump administration is full of shit that would just be used to save hate speech and not give a rat's ass about censorship it approves of.

 

[Pockets]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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iT's a sLiPpErY SlOpE!

 

[Ouroboros]

Aka when they ban right wing extremists. Ok White House....ok....

 

[Ogodei]

Clinton was, if anything, too tame with the deplorables comment. It's like a meeting of the worst damn people in the world and they all stick up for each other's right to shit up the discourse.

This is why deplatforming works. These people's thoughts need to be isolated from the rest of the world because of how it breeds.

 

[Geist 6one7]

Be Best.

 

[Thrill_house]

Those platforms have a choice in what they want to support. If they don't want to deal with your ass, tough luck. Go start/host your own shit. That isn't censorship or an act against freedom of speech.

 

[Calderc]

Also how long til they amend that constitution of yours with 'every man hath a right to Twitter account'?

 

[Salarians]

"censorship"

 

[Dalek]

Fuck these fucks

 

[SigmasonicX]

Guys
You can just write "x" for every field and use this to send pictures

 

[Deleted member 31817]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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I'm not sure how you can look at the complete lack of moderation twitter and youtube have when it comes to actually dangerous videos and think there's too much censorship and that reporting it to the same administration that refused to support the non binding nothingness of the christchurch massacre resolution is a good idea.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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Its more stupid than anything. I wrote 'Fuck You' as the first name and just kept making shit up. Tossing petty complaints into a dark hole.

 

[Dyle]

I wonder how many people who were banned here on Era will fill this out and complain about moderation here

 

[RumbleHumble]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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You know what this legislation is, right? It's pretense for the White House to regulate speech on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and other internet platforms.

 

[lint2015]

i mean censorship is bad and silencing voices you don't like is bad too

don't know how to feel about this

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Nazis and fake conspiracies are bad too.

 

[Parthenios]

Can we just spam this with funny satirical bans? There's like a 80% chance they wouldn't even be able to identify them.

Or spam it with ways they've been deplatforming people, like tales of gerrymandering and voter purges?

 

[MisterHero]

Is it censorship if these are all private companies doing what they want?

 

[chuey]

One more thing, just to confirm you aren't a robot. The Declaration of Independence was signed in what year?

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How many people will get this wrong.

it also stops you from entering anything as soon as you say you are an illegal.

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

ok guys i get it the post wasnt good i just dont like censorship of any form

 

[Cation]

So I just used it submitting myself as Donald Trump and quoted his own tweets....


...and to see if I wasn't a robot - it asked me what year the declaration of independence was signed. Brah, no one in the Drumpfs admin could even answer that...

How many people will get this wrong.

it also stops you from entering anything as soon as you say you are an illegal.

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Lol yeah. I also feel like this tool will be taken down soon after the interwebs abuses it

 

[SigmasonicX]

Wait, it's really the same question every time to check if you're a bot? It was the Declaration of Independence question for me too.

 

[xxracerxx]

ok guys i get it the post wasnt good i just dont like censorship of any form

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You still aren't getting it.

Can I come into your room and write hateful shit all over your walls? Do I have your permission to do that?

 

[Officer Big Mac]

Sounds more like a fundraiser info collection.

 

[Deleted member 5853]

I sent a report saying I got banned for calling the Don a bad word on Twitter.

Hopefully they tackle my censorship with utmost haste!

 

[Foot]

What an unbelievable load of horseshit. Gotta defend those nazis!

 

[RumbleHumble]

After filling everything out, it's just a fundraiser info dump. Classic Trump, turning improper government intervention into a scam to get more money.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

ok guys i get it the post wasnt good i just dont like censorship of any form

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How is a private company enforcing their own ToS censorship?

 

[RockGun90]

ok guys i get it the post wasnt good i just dont like censorship of any form

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"OK guys I get it but also no I don't."

 

[zzz]

"Are you a U.S. citizen or permanent resident?" is an interesting question

 

[Giolon]

This reporting tool is so hilariously stupid.

This is not "censhorship". No matter how badly Trump wants it to be.

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It is censorship. The government is not the only authority capable of censorship - any authority is. In this case, the platform holders (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are the authority of their own platform.

What it's not, however, is a violation of the 1st amendment right to freedom of speech. That can only be violated by the government.