Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Misinformation for we, not for ye

Elon Musk's overhaul of Twitter continues. 


Most notably, Musk is allowing suspended users to return to the platform, specifically those who were kicked off the site for "spreading COVID misinformation." Amazingly (or not), the enforcement on "misinformation" went only one way. That is, those who dared question effectiveness of masks, lockdowns and vaccines were nuked. And while I don't get too worked up over the de-platforming of accounts with no avatar and less than three digit followers, there were reputable medical professionals who were silenced when they dared dissent from the most pervasive source of dubious facts -- government health officials. 


It's been a long standing tradition in America that the best way to defeat objectionable speech is ...wait for it.....MORE SPEECH. As such, Musk opened the matter up to a poll. 





If you think progs were losing their marbles over that, this editorial decision likely caused their collective heads to spin around and barf green vomit. 

 

Twitter said it will no longer enforce its longstanding Covid misinformation policy, yet another sign of how Elon Musk plans to transform the social media company he bought a month ago.

In 2020, Twitter developed an extensive set of rules that sought to prohibit “harmful misinformation” about the virus and its vaccines.

Between January 2020 and September 2022, Twitter suspended more than 11,000 accounts for breaking Covid misinformation rules and removed almost 100,000 pieces of content that violated those rules, according to statistics published by Twitter. The policy received acclaim from medical professionals: In an advisory to technology platforms, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy cited Twitter’s rules as an example of what companies should do to combat misinformation.

Twitter did not appear to formally announce the rule change. Instead, some Twitter users Monday night spotted a note added to the page on Twitter’s website that outlines its Covid policy.

“Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” the note read.

 

The obvious question here is who gets to decide what is "misinformation?"

This reaction from Jeremy Konyndyk, who once worked as a "COVID lead" in the Joe Biden administration, was pretty telling. 




This would seem to indicate that companies who manufacture and sell medical products would be more inclined to buy ad space on Twitter if the site's predominate users put forth information, ideas, or rumors that aid in selling those companies' products. Hmmmm. If only there was a word for such a concept. 

As you might expect, those who answered critics of the old Twitter regime's arbitrary enforcement of their terms of service with "iT's A pRiVaTe CoMpAnY" are starting to let their fascist flag fly now that their political allies are no longer in control.


 



The fact of the matter is this is all impotent rage. Twitter is a platform, therefore falling under the protection of Section 230 which precludes them from being held liable for whatever is published on their site. 


I'm all for Musk and his braintrust looking to limit any kind of garbage which gets on the site, specifically vile racism, blatant misinformation, etc. But the government can go suck a brick if they believe it's their duty to ensure he does so. 


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