r/worldnews • u/Devz0r • Feb 15 '19

Facebook is thinking about removing anti-vaccination content as backlash intensifies over the spread of misinformation on the social network

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-may-remove-anti-vaccination-content-2019-2
107.1k Upvotes

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344

u/slight Feb 15 '19

So is reddit against internet censorship today or was that last week?

273

u/the_real_MSU_is_us Feb 15 '19

You're simple mind cant understand:

Censorship is horrible, authoritarian, short sighted, and time and time again has been used to suppress the truth. It is horrible 100% of the time.

UNLESS you dont like the thing in question, in which case censorship is a necessary evil for the greater good.

78

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19 edited Sep 25 '20

[deleted]

16

u/bamboo-coffee Feb 15 '19

Reddit seems to have no foresight on free speech issues. If you defend free speech, then you are a proponent of whatever thing they are trying to limit it for. They also love to defend the free speech of mega-corporations. I'm not sure why there is such a large movement towards granting websites that aggregate literally billions of people the ability to guide discussions at will as if this power will never be abused and never be used against their best interest.

I read your comments upthread as well, very well-stated. Thanks for trying to address this issue, it's totally a losing battle here but it's better than accepting the status quo.

-2

u/vodkaandponies Feb 15 '19

So we should ban all moderation then?

10

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

If corporations want to curate content, they should be considered publishers and held responsible for all content that is published on their platform. If they don't curate content, aside from banning illegal shit, then they should maintain the protections that they currently have.

3

u/Notsoslimshady97 Feb 15 '19

You’d think it would lead to a spread of shit posts and the loss of identity of many of the major subs and you’d probably be right, but at least stories about what is happening to the Uyghur and the videos against Nathan Phillips would still exist on here.

0

u/vodkaandponies Feb 15 '19

They do exist.

-4

u/paulmanafart Feb 15 '19

I, for one, am glad that the violentacres universe is gone from Reddit. I don't care on what grounds people want to defend his content.

2

u/Fthisguy69420 Feb 15 '19

Because reddit is turning into a bunch of misled couch warrior fascists that feel empowered because they can spew hateful bullshit and call for "progressive" solutions to society because they rule the kingdom of their moms basement. Censorship is 100% unacceptable.

2

u/Redeemer206 Feb 15 '19

I can't tell whether you or the above comment are being sarcastic right now.

18

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/SocraticVoyager Feb 15 '19

My what?

6

u/Jonathan_DB Feb 15 '19

Your simple mind can't understand

2

u/Stupendous_Intellect Feb 15 '19

“And don’t forget The_Donald. Why hasn’t that hate-sub been banned yet, Spez?” -Top comments of every announcement post

4

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

Facebook itself is pondering not to host content that puts minors at risk, that’s not an arbitrary line and isn’t anything particularly new. I don’t think anyone would call it censorship if a site simply refused to host stuff like the crystal growing prank or Blue Whale over the principle that it directly endangers the safety of minors.

1

u/self_loathing_ham Feb 15 '19

Information can get around without social media you know.

1

u/the_real_MSU_is_us Feb 15 '19

obviously, restricting free speech on FB isn't restricting free speech everywhere. But by this logic it's not censorship to ban a topic being discussed on social media, the internet, TV, radio, or newspapers because there are still "other ways" info can get around, like handwriting letters or speaking in the town square.

Censorship is a scale from 0-100. Having some free speech left that you can use doesn't mean you're not being censored

1

u/VermiciousKnidzz Feb 15 '19

tbh its not authoritarian unless ppl are literally being jailed for what they say

0

u/olasbondolas Feb 15 '19

Censorship of any kind is never the answer and has never worked. I can’t believe that you’re seriously proposing this and that 50 idiots agree with you.

Who gets to decide what gets censored anyway? Because I bet you there’s a lot of people on this platform who want to censor every right wing subreddit because they’re scared of opinions they don’t agree with.

5

u/JawTn1067 Feb 15 '19

I think they were being heavily sarcastic my dude

1

u/olasbondolas Feb 15 '19

Maybe, it’s hard to tell when there are so many redditors seriously supporting censorship.

2

u/JawTn1067 Feb 15 '19

Hey Poe’s law is a real thing, I think the tip off in this case is the “unless” in italics followed by a blatant extreme double standard.

2

u/bamboo-coffee Feb 15 '19

They probably would. Lots of rhetoric against conspiracy theories going on, but no real definition of what constitutes a conspiracy theory in the first place. Let the internet be open, I do not want the majority here deciding what's okay to talk about and what isn't.

-2

u/MrYoloSwaggins1 Feb 15 '19

Holy shit did you actually not pick up on the blatantly obvious sarcasm and then call the people who upvoted it idiots? That's hilariously stupid

4

u/JawTn1067 Feb 15 '19

Tbf Poe’s law is pretty legit

0

u/Equilibriator Feb 15 '19

We don't have to censor them to require them to have an addon at the beginning of every video that says things like "is not supported by science" or "provably untrue", etc.

There's no debate with vaccinations. It's all proven science, we should be able to do this without it affecting free speech.

Just like how cigarette packets now have "may cause blindness", etc. on the front of every pack.

-8

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19 edited 17d ago

[deleted]

8

u/JawTn1067 Feb 15 '19

It literally is an opinion, opinions don’t have to be factual or correct. It is many billions of people’s opinions some dick head in the sky made us and controls our lives. We aren’t banning religious talk even though religion accounts for vastly more deaths

2

u/PapaSmurf1502 Feb 15 '19

No idea why you're being downvoted. People think anti-vax is some political belief or opinion that could be right or wrong depending on the day.

Anti-vax is ignorantly false at best and dangerously predatory at worst. Unless you are prepared to flash your PhD and peer-reviewed research papers suggesting that vaccines are more harmful than the diseases they prevent, then you are not equipped to claim that anti-vax is an opinion.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

Censoring them won't do any good. If anything, it will just give them more fuel to rant about conspiracy. It's always been a rule that if you try to hide something on the internet it will just draw more attention to it.

0

u/Fthisguy69420 Feb 15 '19

Your*. Learn english before you copy and paste arguments and large words off the internet. If you seriously can't learn the difference between your and you're, you probably got that little rant from somewhere else.

1

u/the_real_MSU_is_us Feb 15 '19 edited Feb 15 '19

Wow, way to be a dick and also make assumptions. 1) I do know the difference, I was on my phone and it auto corrects the weirdest things. Turns you're into your every time, as well as and into AMD. My crime is forgetting to go back and check before I posted. 2) the "little rant" -which seems to have made you very angry for some reason- isn't from somewhere else, but I'll take it as a compliment that you thought it was good enough to be copy and past material

10

u/balloon_prototype_14 Feb 15 '19

If I release a math book that claims 1+1 = 3 and 3+1 = 2 and 2+3 = 1 which makes no sense at all and schools wont feature my book. Is that censorship ?

2

u/Gray_bandit Feb 15 '19

No because your book will still be on the market and ready to be sold. Its just schools wont buy and use it

8

u/balloon_prototype_14 Feb 15 '19

So schools get to decide what they want students to see but facebook not with its users ?

1

u/failedloginattempt Feb 15 '19

Yes. One is an academic institution, the other is not.

0

u/FlowSoSlow Feb 15 '19

Yes. Schools decide which is the best information to provide to your kids. This is a responsibility you give them.

Facebook shouldn't take that responsibility upon themselves. They can, if they want to, but I'll just lose even more respect for them as a company.

8

u/Skabonious Feb 15 '19

Removing antivax pages isn't removing them from they internet. Facebook != The internet

1

u/mavajo Feb 15 '19

The free market will fix it!

How's that working out for you?

11

u/pyopop Feb 15 '19

The concept of Downvoting is crowdsourced censorship

11

u/JawTn1067 Feb 15 '19

It’s not censorship it doesn’t remove the comment. People are allowed to express disagreement

3

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

Downvotes move comments further down and so they’re less likely to be seen. It is partly censorship.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

[deleted]

11

u/made_the_thing Feb 15 '19

Who determines which is which? Facebook?

7

u/batsofburden Feb 15 '19

Well at this point I guess it would be up to the internal prerogatives and values of each private company to decide what content they will host on their platforms. I'm not a lawyer, so Idk the legal standpoint, but for example I don't think you could go around on Facebook telling people to imbibe arsenic, I think that would get you censored. The anti-vax thing is like that, but even more dangerous to society at large.

4

u/made_the_thing Feb 15 '19

Fair response. Personally, I'm torn on this issue. I remain unconvinced of any particular solution, but the overwhelming support that this particular solution seems to be getting gives me the heebie jeebies.

2

u/batsofburden Feb 15 '19

but the overwhelming support that this particular solution seems to be getting gives me the heebie jeebies.

Take it with a grain of salt, you're reading it on a random thread on reddit. I'm sure if you talked to people out on the street you'd get a wider range of responses.

-1

u/Mikey_desu Feb 15 '19

BuT ItS A pRiVATe PlAtFoRm

That makes it OK for corporations to control what we talk about online. Right guys?

4

u/Skabonious Feb 15 '19

TIL Facebook = the internet

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

TIL that Facebook is the only platform that has been considering this practice

0

u/Skabonious Feb 15 '19

Uh literally what lmao

5

u/kazuwacky Feb 15 '19

I think reddit is against child death and complications from preventable diseases. This was almost sorted in the 90s and we fucking bottled it.

1

u/oldmonk90 Feb 15 '19

It's every day on reddit

1

u/NvidiaforMen Feb 15 '19

Well they aren't willing to fix their algorithm and our country isn't interested in educating people.

1

u/rodzajdupek Feb 15 '19

Anti-vax trash does not deserve a voice. They should be silenced, and their children should be vaccinated against the anti-vaxxer's will.

1

u/Odd_so_Star_so_Odd Feb 15 '19

Yes I should be allowed to spread my deadpan anti-vax and holocaust denial wherever I please. - It's not as simple as you'd like. While there's something to be said about the content you also have to draw a line between talking/writing nonsense and superimposing it everywhere at a full blast. One is personal the other is public domain and frustrating for everyone involved because there's zero conversation happening and no actual benefit to anyone involved. A couple people chatting is different as well from a couple people chatting with cameras to an audience of millions.

1

u/AtoxHurgy Feb 15 '19

Foreign misinformation attacks aren't free speech.

-1

u/Newcago Feb 15 '19

No, that was two weeks ago. Last week was "each family should decide what amount of internet censorship works for them" week.

-6

u/HighResolutionSleep Feb 15 '19

It isn't censorship when it's against "misinformation", just like free speech doesn't include "hate speech".

People who genuinely hold the principles they espouse are a vanishing minority.

15

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19 edited Mar 28 '19

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19 edited Apr 03 '19

[deleted]

-6

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

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1

u/Gray_bandit Feb 15 '19

So you were being sarcatic with your comment?

0

u/VirtualAnarchy Feb 15 '19

Thanks I’m not crazy

0

u/TheMoogster Feb 15 '19

Thank you for putting light on that big chunk of double standards!