Posted on 08/20/2019 8:10:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Hong Kong anti-government protests have now turned into a flashpoint in an information war between China and the US, after American social media giants Twitter and Facebook struck back at what they said was a state-backed disinformation campaign focused on events in the city.
Both companies announced on Monday that they had suspended accounts on their platforms they alleged were part of a Chinese government-backed, coordinated campaign. Twitter said the accounts were meant “to sow political discord in Hong Kong”.
The San Francisco-based company also announced, in a separate statement, that it would no longer accept advertising dollars from state-controlled media outlets.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang hit back at that move, saying it was legitimate for media to engage with overseas audiences through social media. “I don’t know why some companies or individuals are so vehemently opposed to this, maybe it’s because what they did touched on sore points,” he said.
While China and the US remain locked in a protracted trade battle, both sides are also engaging in an intense information war trying to shape public opinion to their advantage. US President Donald Trump, for instance, has frequently used Twitter to accuse Beijing of backtracking on trade commitments despite repeated denials by the Chinese side. Earlier this week, a tweet by Trump urging President Xi Jinping to meet Hong Kong protesters was dismissed by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, who said Trump should honour his own words instead.
The accounts suspended by Twitter and Facebook on Monday were not linked to China’s state-run media organisations. Rather they were part of a network of fake accounts whose described tactics appear akin to the Russian misinformation campaigns coordinated to sway American public opinion in the lead-up the 2016 US election.
(Excerpt) Read more at scmp.com ...
...Holds fat heart. Faints.
Twitter and Facebook are shooting themselves in head trying to be a judge of “hate speech” and political commentary. Its a bottomless pit and will end up destroying them.
Imagine AT&T or VERIZON monitoring telephone calls to decide what is “hate speech”. I see very little difference.
I think both are banned in Mainland China anyway so they know which side their bread is buttered on.
Headline s/b "Water Wet! Sky Blue!..."
ChiComs have a huge netagandist effort and their 50 cent army.
If nothing else this makes it patently obvious that these social media platforms are publishers controlling their content and should be regulated as such.
The only news for months, about Twitter and Facebook, is who is being banned. Yet, any leftist will howl about how it’s not true, or there’s ‘no evidence’ of such, and snopes/politifact will say ‘false’ to the claims of censorship.
I want to ask, not a legal or constitutional question, but a question about what is good or helpful to society & freedom in general. Knowing all we know about how Twitter is used, does any society, ours included, NEED Twitter? Has it helped public discourse and relaying of needed information the public has not had access to otherwise?
No. No answer to that reflects of the constitutionality of a private company like Twitter, and no and am not arguing for a company like Twitter to be made illegal. My question is of a different sort, of our society overall and in general, because Twitter only exists because there is a sufficient body that does chose to use it. OK. But does a free society NEED it? Would our society be less free politically without it?
To me Twitter has NEVER fostered discourse, never brought opposing points of view together in any rational manner. It has mostly served as a megaphone used by opposing sides that never convinces anyone of anything, each just singing to their own choir. Your thoughts?
RE: I want to ask, not a legal or constitutional question, but a question about what is good or helpful to society & freedom in general. Knowing all we know about how Twitter is used, does any society, ours included, NEED Twitter? Has it helped public discourse and relaying of needed information the public has not had access to otherwise?
Well, think about it this way, if we did not have Twitter, and given the constant barrage of negative news about Trump the MSM is trotting out, how can Trump actually present his side of the story to a wide audience to counter “fake news”?
Oddly, Bashle's account claims he still lives in Mogadishu, Somalia.
This could be a fake account, but it seems to be protected by Facebook. Here's what you get if you try to report it:
One option is to go ahead and report the account, but then we find out it is obviously protected.
Any attempt to engage those accounts in a less than respectful way will be punished by an immediate ban.
“Well, think about it this way, if we did not have Twitter, and given the constant barrage of negative news about Trump the MSM is trotting out, how can Trump actually present his side of the story to a wide audience to counter “fake news”?”
An appropriate question. Can the answer possibly be for Trump to insert himself more often in press conferences where he is present, and in TV interviews with talking heads he likes, such as with some of his friends on Fox? It might be. But I think that Trump likes the sound bite was of communicating, more than the long, considered, and highly thought out manner. Yes, I think Trump uses Twitter more because it fits his style than it is because he could not otherwise be heard enough.
Only because they got found out. Silicon Valley Scum.
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