Evan Greer 🏳️‍⚧️

Every major media outlet in the world is going to cover Meta's decision to allow Trump back onto Facebook and Instagram.

Almost none of them have covered the systematic censorship that Arab and Muslim folks, sex workers, and trans activists face on those same platforms.

Almost none of them will cover the ways platforms bending to the will of authoritarian governments abroad.

By letting Trump make himself the center of attention, we’re utterly failing those most impacted.

Jan 26, 2023 at 12:43amWeb
Show threadIron Curtain (Chiptunes)Jan 26, 2023
@evangreer 👆
Show threadMaggieLJan 26, 2023
@evangreer
More concerned with the ways platforms willingly pander to the will of the authoritarian government that's in power here.
Show threadBibbleCoJan 26, 2023

@evangreer well, but it's not 'us' who make Fb's account suspension decisions. It's undoubtedly 'him', in the case of tfg anyway.

When I left Fb I missed it for like 3 days.

Show threadPro-Democracy Coalition GuyJan 26, 2023

@evangreer

Working the refs has been a successful strategy for the right-wing.

Show threadSparky SantosJan 26, 2023
@evangreer he’s a monster; the Fediverse should make victims bring ignored welcome & safe.
Show threadmrjonnoJan 26, 2023
@evangreer
Hear, hear!
I'm trying to get brave muslim women heard. [email protected] for eg.
I'm totally miffed about this.
Show threadDOWJan 26, 2023
@evangreer trump is on mastodon. Liesocial.com is a mastodon instance.
Show threadDrBob, 🧠 MechanicJan 26, 2023

@evangreer it’s all about the money and the eyeballs, as Cory Doctorow clearly analyzed:

“Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.”

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/

Pluralistic: Tiktok’s enshittification (21 Jan 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Show threadMark MifsudJan 26, 2023

@evangreer
(personal opinion)

Meta don't care about democracy or any side of ethical/political issues. They just care about what maximises profits.

If Trump is willing to pay advertising $$ or can keep people stuck to the platform, everyone else can go f themselves.

The real issue is selling morals for share price. Anything else is a symptom not the actual sickness.

Anyone wondering what Meta's, Amazon's, Apple's, Twitter's or Alphabet's political agenda is, is missing the real problem.

Show threadChristianJan 26, 2023
@evangreer it’s depressing, even as a swede, to see how little an actual threat towards democracy really matters in one of the most important democracies in the world right now. Maybe censorship isn’t the answer but when it comes to coups it’s important to really safeguard the people vs forces like Trump.
Show threadDogzillaJan 26, 2023
@evangreer “We” are not failing anyone, because “we” have absolutely zero say in whether Trump gets access to these platforms. Meta and Twitter aren’t failing anyone, because as corporations they are legal fictions that lack the ability to make decisions or hold opinions. The individuals that are failing everyone are Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Show threadelle mundyJan 26, 2023
@evangreer to be fair, i saw approx 1 million stories about twitter’s decision to “cave” to modi yesterday
Show threadAuthor Sharon E. Cathcart âś…Jan 26, 2023

@evangreer I don't think they care. Reporting violent hate speech is inevitably met with "this is not a violation," and calling people out for violent hate speech results in the truth-teller being suspended.

I don't care how many claims Twitter and FB make to have only one set of standards; it's a blatant lie.

Show threadKitkaJan 26, 2023
@evangreer but hey, Trump is *important* Gotta cover this momentous occasion. /s
Show threadRabbi Jill ZimmermanJan 26, 2023
@evangreer it’s a shanda (shame in Yiddish)
Show threadRed FasterJan 26, 2023

@evangreer What a can of worms. Without something like a digital bill of rights there is not going to be any consistency on these matters.

As the intelligence community is concerned I am sure they intend to use Trump as a sheepdog to assist in rounding up and identifying persons of interest similar to how we used to use protest movements to track down socialists

Show threadFeralRobotsJan 26, 2023
@evangreer
yeh where's the #ACLU for all these folks?
Show threadEvan Greer 🏳️‍⚧️Jan 26, 2023
@FeralRobots i mean, for what it's worth the ACLU has consistently opposed legislation like SESTA/FOSTA that led to widespread deplatforming of sex workers, and has opposed platforms' over-removal of Arab and Muslim speech, etc. They certainly could and should dedicate more resources to this. But it's also wrong to imply they haven't been part of these fights.
Show threadhikewithrichardJan 26, 2023
@evangreer Some of us gave up on Instagram and use a few minutes every few days. Facebook is a has been. It has a billion inactive users
Show threadZoydJan 26, 2023
@evangreer Fuck Meta.
Show threadguy,in,a,hatJan 27, 2023
@evangreer the guy is really old now at 76. if he is elected he would be like 78. That's too old. I say, enjoy life in Maralago and GTFO. A person so disgusting he cannot be in a white crime jail.