# So Facebook and Twitter decide to be Publishers **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 15, 2020, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006 "2020-10-15T12:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/42 "2020-10-15T21:49:12Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > New York Post report about Hunter Biden’s emails about Berisma and VP Biden. Twitter and FB took down any mention of the emails. They have become publishers not a town square. Along with what everyone else said, they are not blocking discussion of the emails. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/43 "2020-10-15T22:43:34Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > … and she wasn’t even at the match! She was there, she just just under the bleachers, you know…earning a living. She didn’t catch the score. Some guys from both teams scored though. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/44 "2020-10-16T00:17:39Z")
Twitter and FB blocked the free flowing of information.they took down the NYPost stating the Biden story, because they didn’t like it. My point is not the Biden story it’s the censorship. The only good thing that has happened about this is that the Biden story is now in all news coverage. You’re missing the forest for the trees. It’s a really slippery slope. Once crossed our democracy is at risk. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/45 "2020-10-16T00:21:13Z")
If conservatives don’t like not having their news stories run on media outlets they don’t control, they can start their own media outlets. Like the New York Post website. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/46 "2020-10-16T00:24:19Z")
“Once crossed our democracy is at risk.” Please tell me you are joking. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/47 "2020-10-16T00:39:03Z")
He is not and neither is Tucker Carlson. I just heard a bit of him ranting that nothing like this has ever happened in American history. I didn’t hear all of what he said before that, I was in another rooom but he mentioned a Ministry of Truth. See, this is just the first step in a Marxist takeover of the press. We are all living in a Twlight Zone episode. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/48 "2020-10-16T00:39:13Z")
It has been explained already but I will say it once again - THERE ISN’T ANY CENSORSHIP HERE. Facebook and Twitter are private platforms that can set their own rules and terms of service. They have no obligation and are not required to allow what you call “the free flow of information.” They can block or remove whatever they want. Period. Or in short, you are incorrect and don’t understand this issue at all. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/49 "2020-10-16T00:41:51Z")
That reminds me. I’m still stuck in the 1988 Twilight Zone text adventure game. This bothers me a great deal more than Twitter and Facebook ‘deciding to be publishers’. I found a French page that I Google Translated that pointed me to hints. Didn’t help. I think the game has a glitch rendering it un winnable. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/50 "2020-10-16T01:49:55Z")
Taking a page from the Fox News slogan, the NY Post reported, Facebook decided. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/51 "2020-10-16T03:13:33Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Once crossed our democracy is at risk. Totes adorbs. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/52 "2020-10-16T03:24:10Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Twitter and FB blocked the free flowing of information.they took down the NYPost stating the Biden story, because they didn’t like it. You say they are banning the article because they don’t like it. Facebook says they have signals that the article is fake news and are following standard procedures. Twitter says the article breaks their rules. Do you think Facebook and Twitter are lying? Look, conservative to… conservative, I’m sure they both hate the article. But these guys, Facebook and Twitter, they are not stupid people. They make billions of dollars. They don’t want to do this, you saw what it did to the stocks. Bad for business, they don’t want to censor the story. But they have to because we made them add all these rules after the 2016 election when they did nothing to stop the Steele dossier, which was totally unverified and came out of Russia. ~Max > **cites** > > Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone says the article is “[eligible to be fact checked](https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1316395902479872000)” and that temporarily “reducing its distribution” pending a fact-check is “[standard process](https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1316423671314026496)”. He linked to [a Facebook blog post](https://about.fb.com/news/2019/10/update-on-election-integrity-efforts/), dated from 2019, which describes that standard process. The article reads, in part, > > > “In many countries, including in the US, if we have signals that a piece of content is false, we temporarily reduce its distribution pending review by a third-party fact-checker.” > > * * * > > [Twitter says](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1316525303930458115.html) the article violates its rules in two places, first by publishing personal and private information like addresses and phone numbers, and second by publishing hacked content. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/53 "2020-10-16T03:56:43Z")
Can I ‘lol’ in this forum? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/54 "2020-10-16T04:16:41Z")
I laughed myself, but I’m being sincere. You talk to conservatives yourself, I’ve seen your rants about it [wink]. There’s some minor code-switching. This is just how we talk politics among ourselves, just like any other in-group, you build off common ground. I haven’t said anything I won’t stand behind. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/55 "2020-10-16T04:21:31Z")
Because it is fake news and Election interference. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/56 "2020-10-16T04:31:42Z")
Yep, they block all nudity. FB blocks Fake news, extreme violence, harassment, Spam and quite a few other things. For example- if you have a complaint that someone did something nasty, you cant show their face, name or lic #- unless you have reported it to the police. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/57 "2020-10-16T08:36:22Z")
If the story’s real, it was obtained via illegal hacking. And if the story’s fake, it’s fake. Both valid reasons not to publish it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/58 "2020-10-16T08:43:15Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Once crossed our democracy is at risk. Republicans are actively destroying democracy in America. They are verifiably working with a foreign power to undermine the US elections, and it’s not the first time they’ve done so. They have for _years_ been stripping legitimate voters off the rolls and using every means of voter suppression, fair and foul, they can get away with. They are **right now** putting out illegal drop boxes in California. They have been admitting for decades that they don’t want everyone to vote, and several of them are now speaking out openly against democracy in America. But tell us again, **eenerms** , how _this_ is the thing that puts democracy at risk. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/59 "2020-10-16T12:01:58Z")
The problem with censorship is that for many its appealing when it favors your side, but what happens if there’s a backlash, and we have new alternative (politically) social media (its bound to happen in the future) and when everyone moves on to the latest greatest thing? They start to censor left-winged opinions… In fact, it seems Big Tech always censors those who are anti-war. Reminds me of the quote, and I’m paraphrasing… “Then they came for the Communists, but I did not speak up because I was not a Communist… Then they came for me, but there was no one left to speak for me” Bad ideas die on their own, but when “the man” starts to interfere, it usually causes backlash, and has people saying “See? See? Bias”… I disagree about a liberal bias myth… I think the news is inherently conservative, but more specifically, it’s financially biased. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/60 "2020-10-16T12:49:40Z")
Twitter is modifying its policy on hacked content: > - Twitter’s head of policy Vijaya Gadde [said on Thursday](https://twitter.com/vijaya/status/1316923549236551680) that the platform “will no longer remove hacked content unless it is directly shared by hackers or those acting in concert with them” and will add contextual labels to tweets with links to such material instead of blocking them entirely. > **[Twitter will now add warning labels to tweets containing hacked material...](https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-revises-hacked-materials-policy-uproar-ny-post-hunter-biden-2020-10)** > > Twitter tried to limit the story's reach amid questions about its veracity and a possible disinformation campaign, prompting conservative backlash. ETA: On the “Emperor Has No Clothes” front, I still cannot believe we’re talking about whether or not Hunter Biden tried to arrange a meeting between Burisma and his VP father … when … Jared and Ivanka. Many of us were worried, at the beginning of the Trump presidency, that the incessant blizzard of lies and dysfunction would tend to normalize insanity and lead us to Bizarro World. It did. Blindingly quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006/61 "2020-10-16T13:29:04Z")
It’s the Bannon Plan and it has worked better than they dared hope. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-facebook-and-twitter-decide-to-be-publishers/923006.md?page=4)