Thread by @_centrists_

@Timcast Saving the Reuters story.

archive.is/okKkg

web.archive.org/web/2019060216…

web.archive.org/web/*/https://…

Twitter's excuse will sound familiar to a lot of us.

@Timcast "In a statement posted to the company’s Public Policy Twitter feed on Saturday, Twitter said 'a number of accounts' had been suspended as part of efforts to target accounts engaging in 'platform manipulation'."

(continued)

@Timcast "'Some of these were involved in commentary about China. These accounts were not mass reported by the Chinese authorities - this was a routine action on our part,' the company said."

@Timcast "Such actions sometimes 'catch false positives or we make errors,' it added. Twitter said it was working to 'ensure we overturn any errors'. "

It echoes the excuses given to users whose accounts have been locked without just cause for years.

@Timcast There is good reason to not take Twitter at its word on this. Those of us who've been targeted by Twitter mobs before (as I was, repeatedly, by a pack of open neo-Nazis who would drop by to post anti-Semitic abuse, for example) have noticed a pattern.

@Timcast When one locks the people attacking one, and actively looks for accounts that would be sympathetic to those people, the rate at which one's account is locked plummets.

So, as much as Twitter likes to pretend that it doesn't do mob moderation, the facts say otherwise.

@Timcast The Chinese government has a LONG history of trying to silence its critics, so Twitter's explanation should be seen as an insult to our intelligence. But let's say they were telling the truth, just for the sake of discussion.

What then?

@Timcast Then, a reasonable person would have to admit, there is absolutely no excuse for them to have stubbornly gone on using what is clearly a broken AI.

They would have had years to make that thing work, and they would have failed.

@Timcast At some point, common decency would have (and common sense should have) compelled them to shelve a piece of software that does not work.

How long does one keep trying to make a failed project work?

@Timcast As for the inevitable argument offered by those who live to kiss corporate butt that Twitter is a private company and has an absolute right to do as it wishes

1. That's not the law and it never was. That's just a Libertarian's wet dream.

2. Twitter sells stock.

@Timcast These people need to go look up the concept of "fiduciary reponsibility." By acting in a manner which undercuts the value of its services to its users, Twitter slowly drives people off of this platform.

@Timcast Momentum can only carry this platform so far; eventually, if they go on acting like this, their user base will start to shrink, and their profits along with that base.

The company has a legal responsibility to zealously look after the interests of its investors.

@Timcast Interests that are put at risk when Twitter acts in such a way as to endanger its legal status as a platform (as opposed to being a publisher), opening itself up to a massive liability risk.

@Timcast Consider the number of pirated photos posted on this system, and the copyright suits that could follow. Wrongful injury (maybe even death) suits resulting from the actions of some of the more violent users?

@Timcast As for Twitter's moral responsibilities, people would do well to read the Federalist Papers and read the explanation of WHY there is a first amendment. Having done so, they'll see that the "it's a private company" defense" falls apart on a moral level.

@Timcast Please unroll @threadreaderapp