Slashdot Mirror


Twitters Says It Will Ban Trump If He Breaks Hate-Speech Rules (qz.com)

Twitter has made a serious effort as of late to limit hate speech on its social media site, especially after Election Day where "biased graffiti, assaults and other incidents have been reported in the news." The company now faces President-elect Donald Trump, who has used Twitter for the past 18 months as a megaphone for his views and rants, which many would consider as "hate speech." According to the American Bar Association, hate speech is "speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or other traits." Quartz reports: While Trump's deceptive tweets may not violate Twitter's rules against harassment, threats and "hateful conduct," Twitter is still keeping an eye on his account for more egregious offenses. This week, the company told Slate it would consider banning key government officials, even the president, if its rules against hate speech or other language were violated. "The Twitter Rules prohibit violent threats, harassment, hateful conduct, and multiple account abuse, and we will take action on accounts violating those policies," a spokesperson wrote. Twitter confirmed with Quartz that everyone, including government officials, were subject to the policy: "The Twitter Rules apply to all accounts," a spokesman wrote. Trump may not have crossed that line yet, but he hasn't exactly refrained from making incendiary claims. Most recently, he claimed that Abdul Razak Ali Artan, who allegedly carried out an attack injuring 11 students at Ohio State University, "should not have been in our country." Artan was a legal permanent U.S. resident, whose family had fled Somalia for Pakistan in 2007. He arrived in the States in 2014.

8 of 1,058 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Immigration policy is not hate speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Notice how the left ignored the Ohio State attack after it was revealed the attacker was both Muslim and didn't use a gun? The second it no longer fit their narrative, they completely ignored it even happened.

  2. Re: Finally, the gloves will come off! by ClickOnThis · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually no, they're not that simple. You can read them here.

    I reaffirm: nobody is banning speech. Twitter is banning people who break their rules of conduct on their forum.

    --
    If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  3. Re:Immigration policy is not hate speech by x0ra · · Score: 4, Informative

    Plenty of dumb shits were calling for "Gun Control" even though it was a knife and car attack.

  4. Re: Finally, the gloves will come off! by Xenographic · · Score: 4, Informative

    Their rules are one thing. How evenly they apply them is another.

    There are people who have done a lot of experiments in the form of posting some variation on "I hate black people for voting for Hillary" and "I hate white people for voting for Trump" then reporting both accounts to Twitter.

    Guess which kind of hatred they refused to ban?

  5. Re:And the leftist position is? by gweilo8888 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The definition is very simple, even if you want to be obtuse and pretend you don't know: Saying someone is somehow inferior because of their skin color, gender or sexual orientation is hate speech. And Trump has crossed that line many, many, MANY times and continues to do so even now.

  6. Re: Finally, the gloves will come off! by Entrope · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, Trump's followers (and a lot of others) complain that Twitter isn't honest about the rules they use. Also that a lot of Twitter's supporters are inconsistent in applying the values they claim to hold or as dishonest as Twitter.

  7. Re: Finally, the gloves will come off! by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes. I make the choice every time I choose who to have sex with.

    If you want to screw guys and choose not to, you're closeted. You choose who you have sex with, you can't choose who you *want* to any more than the "pray away the gay" crowd can choose to not have those thoughts.

    Why would you think it isn't a choice?

    Because many people have tried and failed.

    What sort of evidence do you have that this one behavior is not a choice as opposed to every other behavior being a choice?

    Who says everything else is a choice?

    Do you think people don't have free will?

    Define "free will".

    Do you think that people are so compelled to some actions that they cannot help themselves?

    Try holding your breath for 4 minutes. It won't cause you any harm.It's just a choice to breathe.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.