PlayStation Temporarily Pulls the Plug on Facebook, Instagram Advertising

@kyleforrester87 Oh noes.

@kyleforrester87 Well, you can always check www.pushsquare.com
Oh wait...

Well you can always sign up on playstation.com newsletter

The concept of "hate speech" is simply a way to destroy freedom of speech without officially changing the law. This whole thing is out of hand. People are allowed to voice ideas different than my own without me fighting to silence them.

Good news, well done Sony for doing the right thing.

Censorship is NEVER a good idea. Least of all if it is imposed by corporations.

@sketchturner Censorship is NEVER a good idea. Least of all if it is imposed by corporations.

@sketchturner and companies are allowed to not advertise with platforms that allow speech they don’t agree with.

@get2sammyb Devil's advocate; if you start censoring 'hate speech', the question becomes what counts as hate speech and what doesn't. Is there an objective measure? I don't think so. It's all subjective. It depends on what the person in question finds offensive; which can range from very little to pretty much anything they disagree with. I'm usually not too fussed when people call me names. I ignore them and move on. But I know some will make a scene if they're called an idiot for example.

How do you prevent it from affecting the censorship of political, cultural or social comments for example? I mean, if a fool says the Earth is flat and he gets censored for it, so be it. But if someone says communism is good. Well, you may disagree, or you may agree, but can that be censored if someone or many people find(s) it offensive? I know it's an extreme example, but it's good to think about. Especially in this day and age when everything seems to trigger at least someone it seems.

@Octane hate speech is by its very definition hateful. Saying the world is flat isn’t hateful. Ignorant most certainly, hateful it is not however.

@get2sammyb @sketchturner But then again who decides what hate speech really entails? If someone says I'm fat (which I am), is that hate speech? If I say Sony sent an email to VICE about their negative review of TLOU2, which they did, is that hate speech? If I complain about corporations nitpicking who can review their games to guarantee good reviews, Is that hate speech? Trash smells bad, and yet if I say it, someone is bound to get offended.

@Oscarjpc easy litmus test to see if something is hate speech —> does the message contain or spread hate? If yes it is hate speech. Simple.

This s*** is stupid. Obviously calling someone the N word or making fun of someone for some other reason is wrong. But you're not going to stop it. It starts with banning the n word users but where does it stop? Especially with BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS involved.

@MarcG420 What's the test for misinformation? Who decides what is and what is not allowed to be believed or talked about?

@MarcG420 Absolutely. Corporations are free to spend their money where they want. The problem is the amount of ignorance concerning what Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are. They are open platforms, not publishers. If Facebook censors what content is shared, then it is no longer an open platform, which has all sorts of legal implications for how they can run their business.

In my opinion, this is all to stop conservative view points and having a platform. Twitter literally just cracks down on conservatives, but does not stop or censor liberals who say kill cops for example. The hypocrisy is so blatant, it is not hate speech as long as a liberal says it

@MarcG420 Interesting point. Now tell me did you find my previous post hate speech according to your test?

For those asking, hate speech is defined by Cambridge Dictionary as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation".

@Oscarjpc no insulting to you certainly. Hate speech it is not though.

A couple of minor changes to it and it would be —> changing it to you must be fat because you’re a minority or some other hateful stereotype then yes.

There are legal definitions of hate speech in pretty much every western nation and many beyond. The UN adopted a definition on hate speech, and indeed a strategy which Facebook ironically promoted. All of you trying to define it and argue around it, sorry guys, far smarter people than those of us on this forum took years a d years to hammer out the definition, so we have one, and Facebook should apply it.

Also me disagreeing with your hate speech is not a limit on your freedom of speech, hell the US Supreme Court ruled that denying someone your platform to talk is an expression of your own free speech. As an example, say I owned a bar and a racist came in and started saying racist things, I am perfectly allowed to throw that person out and bar them from my premises, that is denying them a platform, but is an expression of my own free speech. They are free to say what they want, but they are not free to do so in my premises or on my platform.

This isn't difficult, some of the examples I've seen where Facebook has been unwilling to take action is quite frankly ludicrous, including calling for finishing what Adolf Hitler started, if you can't see that as hate speech then I don't know what to say to you, other than you're probably an awful human being.

@sketchturner you’ll notice I did call it a platform. Just because something is an open platform DOES NOT mean that hate speech is allowed. It’s really not that difficult.

@SirAngry So when liberals and BLM activists post a good cop is a dead cop, that should be banned too right?

@MarcG420 No, don't get me wrong. I'm all in favour of cracking down on the actual racism. It's just the ad hoc implementation of a measure like this, without any plan to prevent it from spreading to other areas. How do you prevent people from labeling non-discriminatory comments as hate speech? Just food for thought. If something can be done that's great, but it needs to be implemented thoughtfully. Because in the end there are always gray areas that need to be defined if you want to enforce hard rules.

@MarcG420 @Kidfried I agree with your posts. And yet, I have been deemed a hate-monger for posting exactly those 3 things on social networks. You have proven my point. I agree what I wrote ISN´T hate speech and yet I have been reported on those 3 things online. I have never thought we as a society would confuse criticism with hate BUT IT ACTUALLY DOES HAPPEN EVERYDAY.

@SonuvLiberty misinformation is information intended to misinform with half truths and outright lies. The companies are handling misinformation better now actually; they leave the content with a warning about its accuracy and link(s) to information as to why it’s misinformation.

You have a problem with that system? Seems to me like they’re simply trying to convey the truth and letting users make their own minds in the end by leaving the original content there.

@Ryguy2784 yes, it is covered under the UN definition, certainly comes under the broad definition adopted across the EU, the difficulty with that comment in the USA though is that I believe hate speech isn't as clearly defined, and most need to see a direct threat. The USA is decades behind in this area and it is mostly defined by case law and previous judgements.

@SirAngry I live in the US and I can tell you, conservatives get banned, not for hate speech, but for having a different opinion. Where as the other side says kills cops, kill Trump, calls for violence and murder and they are not deplatformed or banned. It is all to surpress the right. This has nothing to do with hate speech.

And down here in the Hood we use the n-word more than I drink red Kool Aid. Funny how people like the Black Eagle can call black conservatives crackers, sellouts, Uncle Toms, Uncle Tom n***ers, stupid n***er, and Oreo and nobody says a damn, but if it goes the other way you are a racist. These companies are so f***ing phony.

@cashflowx The hypocrisy is so real, they don't even hide it anymore. because they don't have too

@Kidfried I agree, bad on both sides. But social media is run by liberals so there is a huge bias

@Ryguy2784 You are correct in your assessment. WE LINE IN A COUNTRY WHERE OBAMA SET UP A MEETING FOR STEVE HARVEY TO MEET TRUMP AND 3 OTHER BLACK ENTERTAINERS TO DISCUSS WAYS TO IMPROVE MY LIFE. For those of you who are dumb enough to say BLACK LIVES MATTER. It was black leaders who called Steve Harvey a coon, sellout, Oreo, a sellout n***er!!!

@JapaneseSonic
Yes, I agree with you. But for all those asking what hate speech is, whether they're being disingenuous or not, the definition is right there for them.

@Kidfried You just proved my point. By daring to speak out about the bias by the media, you call me a conspiracy theorist. You can't even make this stuff up

Well, we can see who the conservative types are now anyways...

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/349404-steve-harvey-my-wife-told-me-not-to-meet-with-trump-i-should

Comedian Steve Harvey said he ultimately regrets his decision to meet with President Trump, saying he should have listened to his wife's advice not to attend the meeting.

"Here's the crazy thing: I'm supposed to be on a boat for my 60th birthday, so my wife says, 'Steve, just take off [and skip the meeting]. You'll meet with him some other time.' God, I should've listened," Harvey told The Hollywood Reporter.

Harvey, who interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the campaign, met with Trump in January at Trump Tower before his inauguration.

Former President Obama's transition team facilitated Harvey meeting with Trump, according to the comedian.

The two television stars discussed urban communities, and even chatted with Ben Carson, Trump's pick for secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

However, Harvey received intense backlash for meeting with Trump.

"It was so vicious that it really threw me. I was being called names that I've never been called: Uncle Tom. A coon. A sellout. Because I went to see this man?! Which only happened because my business partner got a call from the Obama transition team, who said that the Trump transition team would like to set up a meeting," he said.

Harvey said he and Trump have not been in contact since the meeting.

@MarcG420 I am a proud conservative.

@Ryguy2784 and I’m proud to add you to my ignore list. Bye.

@Kidfried Boogaloo isn't an exclusively right wing thing. That whole idea is basically people saying they think a second US civil war is inevitable - some are likely trying to make it happen, but it also just includes people who think it'll happen bo matter what. You can believe this, and try to instigate it, while also being left wing.

@Ryguy2784 that's just not what researchers have found actually. There's been broadly speaking more censorship of the left within the US and indeed on social media than there has been the right. Hell, until historically recently some rather benign groups on the left were banned on the USA. I think it's also worth pointing out what Americans call the left is still pretty much rightwing almost anywhere else on the planet. There's also a conflation of "progressives" and "liberals" in the US that quite frankly shows a really crap level of understanding in the discourse. It is perfectly plausible that someone might view gay rights through the lens of traditional right liberalism and freedom of expression, yet sit broadly within the right given issues such as law and order, governance and economic policy. I generally find the debate in the US to be so far debased and without nuance as to be thoroughly pointless. The example I give above of some being for gay rights, but being firmly rightwing is one I actually know. He"s been attacked as a leftist and a libtard for just one thing. I think the USA needs to do some serious maturing.

Stop. If you want to crack down on free speech it always backfires. Jokes mislabeled and it there has never been a legal definition of “hate speech” that isn’t just a restoration of free speech.It’s very easy for a mob mentality to take over and scream racist at nothing. We’ve had a lot of that recently. This is just a witch hunt mob at this point and won’t end well.

@SirAngry I agree with your last sentence. I think the problem is, which Marc420 just proved, is that when people have a different opinion, they can't handle it and shut down and go hide in their safe space. I don't think I said anything offensive. I said I am a conservative and he ignored me, which is fine, I could care less. But on a grander scale, what he did is what the big social media companies are trying to do to people who have a different political viewpoint then their own

@MarcG420 Wow you ignore a guy because he calmly explains his point of view?? Seems pretty ignorant and childish.

@Jaz007 you do not have the right to come into my home and say hateful things. It is that simple. Facebook is a private platform. Were it a Government owned space you might have a point and a claim to it being a commons, but as it is private, Facebook does have editorial rights they are currently not exercising, so companies have the right not to associate with them, that's them exercising their free speech.

@SonuvLiberty nah, I ignore him because I wanted to. Got a problem with that? I don’t care.

Then why comment at all if you're not willing to hear others opinions? You just threw him into a group and deemed his opinion unworthy. You're not much better then a rascist or homophobe at this point.

Some people are pretending to be outraged haha

OMG PlayStation is pulling the plug on FB advertising Nnoooooo arrrggg

@Kidfried That article definitely needs a TLDR, the more I read it, the less I understood it lol. And then I saw I wasn't even halfway.

@Nah900 Nice to see you as well!

@Nah900 if you insist. Bye bye.

@SonuvLiberty yeah, ignoring someone I don’t want to hear from puts me on the same level as homophobes and racists.

Whatever you say bud 😂

Right it's just an attack on misinformation, which now billion dollar advertisers get to have a say on what is and what is not allowed.

@SonuvLiberty you’re implying the content they’re trying to fight against is harmless.

You don’t seem to understand that it’s not misinformation that this is about; IT’S ABOUT HATE SPEECH. You ok with hate speech? Sure seems like it from your replies.

@MarcG420 you know what I mean boy. Now go take a nap in your safe place, the adults are talking. Dont want you hearing any dangerous thoughts now. 😉

@SonuvLiberty oh look, he can’t make a valid point against what I say so the attacks begin.

Pathetic bud.

King 👑 sony is doing theyre thing thats a good look.word up son👍.word up son

Wow! My respect for Sony had already taken a hammering this past month over their involvement in the false YT copyright strikes and the anti-consumer misleading advertising relating to TLOU2, but them jumping on the latest anti-conservative trendy band wagon has knocked down my previously high esteem for Sony even further. Anyone who bothers to properly fact check their news sources knows that this latest campaign to force Facebook's hand isn't about hate speech - it's about piggybacking off of a tragic event to crack down on conservative voices in the run up to the US election and I personally find that despicable (especially given that the US has freedom of expression enshrined in their constitution). If it was about hate speech then there would be equal highlighting of the many far left examples of hate speech too, but there is remarkably little of that, and that's because it's not politically expedient.

@MarcG420 Actually I typed that before I saw your second comment...bud. No what I'm implying is that it starts with hate speech. They didnt just say hate speech, they also added misinformation. Taking action against hate speech Good. Billion dollar advertisers getting a say on what is and what isn't misinformation Bad. Take your time. Read it twice.

@MistressTonberry (And all the other’s also saying they’re upset with Sony) - so I take it you’re equally as upset about Microsoft’s decision to also stop the advertising on Facebook?

@SonuvLiberty they leave the original content up and post why they’re labelling it misinformation.

What about that do you have a problem with exactly? Is it the leaving the original message up or posting the actual facts and sources for those facts?

So what you’re actually against is the truth.

@MistressTonberry Very well said! I could not agree more! (:

Why the actual f*ck are people saying this is censorship. If you’ve ever experienced being harassed solely for an identifying characteristic, you’ve been a victim of hate speech. You lot love to talk about freedom of speech as if it’s under threat but we live in the most open and free world we’ve ever lived in. If you agree with the sorta stuff that’s being removed, you’re the problem as you agree with hate speech.

It genuinely makes me sad that conservatives feel they are being persecuted. I know that sounds sarcastic, but I mean it. There is a wedge being driven into Western society, and we're all suffering because of it. Why do the left and right think each other group hates them. It just can't be true if you sit down and really think about it. Sweeping generalisations about one side or other are just not helpful.

Here's some facts. But hey, those don't exist anymore right? FFS.
https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/study-facebook-still-not-censoring-conservatives
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249024258_The_Liberal_Media_Myth_Revisited_An_Examination_of_Factors_Influencing_Perceptions_of_Media_Bias

Edit: Was a bit trigger happy, posting the link without comment! Just to be clear, I'm not coming down on any side here. Im saying generalising about left and right is bad. Dont do it kids!

@nessisonett https://images.app.goo.gl/zwUsiZXGLhyJCzhk9

@JohnnyBastos don’t show them actual facts, it doesn’t fit their narrative 😂

lmao, that website ask for donations and to take action against Fox news and conservatives. Sorry if I don't believe the "facts" from this liberal propaganda site

just ignore it why is that so hard for people these days!

@MarcG420 I'm not upset with Sony - I've just lost a lot of the huge respect I had for them a couple of months ago is all. As for Microsoft then I haven't played Xbox since my 360 days and I don't currently own anything which uses Microsoft software, though I have equal disdain for their political pandering too, as I would be as hypocritical as these companies were I to play favourites this way 😉

@David187 because liberals and the left can't control their emotions, so they try to control other peoples behavior instead

@SirAngry Facebook is a platform, not a publisher. There's a big difference with what that means legally and what they are allowed to do regarding speech.

@MarcG420 Don't call people "them" dude. It's just as bad.

@Nah900 I know. Their methodology seemed pretty legit to me though.

@nessisonett Making any speech illegal like that because it could be considered hateful always backfires and there is a track record of it with every country that has "hate speech" as a law. And yes, I have been singled out as such.

@sketchturner Well said. I don't trust corporations to decide what speech should be allowed.

@JohnnyBastos when referring to actual people in a comment board there is nothing wrong with that. Sensitive much?

facebook needs to die already.

@Jaz007 If I went up to somebody and slapped them on the street, it would be assault. If I openly called a black person the N word online then that’s just as much an assault on that person. There’s always going to be a line that will be defined, I worry for instance that criticism of Israeli policy will end up being stifled by painting it as antisemitism, as it has in the past. Ultimately though, if you go onto any social media or honestly any online service, you’ll 100% see people using horrible slurs, making ‘jokes’ about murdered children, saying they should continue what Hitler started etc. Social media isn’t a true public forum, you’re subject to a corporation’s T&C at the end of the day and if they deem what you say to be hate speech, so be it. Find a social media you agree with like the far-right are doing with Parler.

@nessisonett
If your white that rule doesn't apply, you can be as hateful & racist as you want to whites.

It's beneficial for companies to be political in Western countries, while they allow other governments to abuse human rights in other countries like China. Which all these same countries do business with knowingly, same as in Africa little children mining for materials. The Slave trade in the middle east, no one gives a sh#t about especially westerns. Your watching intersectional Marxists taking over your countries, hence why they've gone for your history and over the next few years it'll only get worse. Why do you think in evil western countries Everything is racist or a phobia?

@banacheck Exactly! That was on point and well said.

@banacheck Whataboutism helps literally nothing. If Marxists are taking over, why are Boris and Trump in charge and their opposition just as corrupt as them? There’s also more characteristics than being white, for instance being bi, I’ve been full on punched in the street because I was with another man at the time. Yes, bad things happen around the world and people turn a blind eye but it’s a bit much to say that it’s somehow the fault of intersectional Marxists when they have zero political power!

@MistressTonberry what about them taking a stand against hate speech made you respect them less? The fact that they’re trying to reduce the amount of hate speech on these platforms?

Honest question.

@JohnnyBastos - see, there are many acceptable uses of the word “them” 😉

@MarcG420 Yeh, probably. Look man, the right wing persecution complex being pushed by politicians and pundits across western society drives me mad too. But I don't want to add any fuel to that fire. I want the opposite, I want to try to combat the rift I have seen opening up in society over the last decade or so. As a global community we need to make so many big changes to deal with climate change and extreme inequality, and this squabbling over the meaning of free speech or statues or whatever is just distracting us all. Hence I get high and mighty in comment threads on the internet.

Let me guess...
FB allow people talk against liberal SJW trash, a that's "hate speech"...

@Jaz007 actually no there isn't, Facebook lawyers like to argue there is, but actually in most jurisdictions there isn't. If you really want to read up on it I can give you some reading. Simply put whether a platform or a publishing house Facebook own a means to amplify or promote speech, they also therefore have a right and in some cases a duty to de-platform certain forms of speech. This is pretty much accepted wisdom everywhere, including the US which holds those that promote hate speech as guilty as those who commit the hate speech. Besides, my point about Facebook being a private space stands no matter what definition you like to level at it, it is not a commons and therefore Facebook can choose to limit speech in whatever way they want because that is their free speech right.

@Collette I think it’s been defined on this thread alone plenty. Refer to one of the three definitions if you want to.

@nessisonett huh? Slapping someone on the street is not at all equivalent to calling them a name, no matter how rude. I don't get to hit or physically assault someone because they called me a name. No matter how terrible or ill-intended the name.

@Collette No.

See how freedom works, I don’t have to if I don’t want to.

@Collette funny, I’m in perfect health.

@Collette Yes, yes he is

@Collette I’ve already clearly stated my position. Nothing further to say.

From our past interactions I know you’re just trying to troll and fight and I’m not engaging.

Bye bye.

@Makina no, there have actually been some very prominent cases where people have called for the mass murder of people, and local jurisdictions have prosecuted those people, but Facebook have literally protected them and refused to take the hate speech down. No matter what your political persuasion calling for the mass murder of an ethnic, religious or other social group is wrong.

@Collette There’s not much you can do in these situations. You report it and then what do you really have to say, a basic description of the person which probably won’t get them anywhere. For every case that’s closed, like the two women who got beaten almost to death by a group of teenagers on a bus, there’s hundreds of assaults that go unpunished. I honestly doubt some of the ones here really know what it’s like to be afraid to go out in public and act like themselves. It’s really not difficult to spot hate speech.

@Collette I’m not hiding, imposing nor looking to debate the matter. Bye bye now.

PS. The conservative persecution complex is ridiculous. It's because their schtick only works if they are persecuted, but when you look at the Government's around the world they're mostly right leaning and have been for over a decade in most places. Christ, in the USA they literally have an extreme rightwing Government and yet they still believe they're persecuted. At some point that chip needs to be polished out of both shoulders because it just isn't sustainable in a world that has Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, Putin, Erdogan, Modi and many, many others, including Macron who in policy terms is more right than the French conservatives, there comes a point where you have to accept you're not persecuted, you're in charge.

@MarcG420 Jesus Christ, was that an attempt at parody? If not, the problem is you. Remember elections speak louder than words or internet comments.

@Starkei what are you referring to?

@Collette I think it depends on the individual police department you deal with. Some are brilliant and really do protect and serve. Some do the very opposite. The police where I live are fairly obviously tied to the Orange Order (sorta Freemason-esque Protestant group) and so I don’t really trust them that much. Unfortunately, these things just happen and anybody with a characteristic that seemingly draws violence knows that they have to keep an extra eye out.

The arrogance from Mark Zuckenburg today in regards to the pull out is truly astounding. His god complex needs breaking down

@Collette It’s one of those things where your parents drum it into you when you’re young. My dad worked in the council and it’s just part of the establishment. Actually looking it up, there’s not really much to be said online so it might just be my parents being superstitious 😂😂

Censorship is evil and ineffective.

@Nah900 extreme right is not far right, again please educate yourselves, the current US Government is pursuing an extreme economic, social and foreign policy set. I do keep up to date on US politics thanks, my wife is a professor of American Politics at a university here in Sweden. She's Swedish-American. Economically the US Government has absolutely pursued dangerous deregulation at the cost of US public health and monopolies. The slashing of Government agencies which was done for ideologically neoconservative reasons is also extremely right wing, and has left the USA thoroughly incapable of responding to a national emergency. The reality is there is no real left in American politics, and I stick by the statement that the Trump administration is extreme right.

@Collette You’re dead on about challenging these people. I’ve been on this site for years now and I will always challenge those who spread misinformation and hate, which unsurprisingly intersects with those on this article who are really proud to be conservatives. Ignoring it is just allowing it to happen.

I just have to shake my head at some of these comments. Hate speech is pretty self explanatory. Some people are saying but who enforces that. Well That is up to the courts to decide not average Joe keyboard warriors. Also some of these arguements such as "but where does it stop?" Is the same as saying "if we legalize gay marriage where does it stop? Will we have bestiality next?".

@nessisonett you remember Collette called you a “sad little man” about two weeks ago right...

@SirAngry it's because they want it all. They dont want some of the pie. They want all the pie and if god forbid someone's tries to stop them then its "why are we being persecuted?".

@nessisonett Where has any conservative on this post said anything hateful or spread misinformation. Just because you don't agree with what we say does not make it hate speech

@Collette yes exactly so you need to take that up with the courts and such. Facebook is a company and should be held to different standards than a private individual. I mean people can say what they want but they are not allowed to go to work and say what they want. No one is forcing you to use facebook. People can create a hateful website if they want. The issue here is that companies need to be held to different standards cause they are companies and no company should be allowed to profit off hate speech

@Nah900 deregulations absolutely help large companies. That's the reason why lobbyists exist. To deregulate and in return pay less in taxes and fees to boost profit margins for investors.

@Nah900 actually Streeck and Pikety have shown via regression studies deregulation actually harms small businesses and lowers the survivability if start ups. The Neoliberal dogma of the last 40-50 years has proven categorically that money does not trickle down, yet consistently western Governments have said "perhaps if we give the mega-wealthy more money some will trickle down then". I hate to disagree with you, but there hasn't been a "classically conservative" US Administration since prior to Reagan. The biggest swindle performed on the American people has been convincing them that neoliberalism and neoconservative equates to Christian conservative or classic conservatism, they don't.

PS. I never accused you of not keeping up with US politics did I? That was you to me... see how deeply ingrained your persecution complex is? I've literally not said anything nasty about you, or accused you of not knowing US politics, I corrected you on the difference between extreme right and far right, both of which are quite different beasts.

@SirAngry totally agree. Trickle down economics is disproved time and time again. It is a scam told to the less educated because a lot of them dont understand economics in general. Most economists will say it doesn't work and the ones that do? Well take a look at their dealings and you will find they are funded or work with large corporations

@JapaneseSonic I had to create an account, follow the verification link, then find this article and comment again JUST so I could cosign it. The people posting "but what really IS hate speech?" with a pretend skull in their hands are trolls operating in bad faith attempting to muddy the water enough to distract from the original issue. Every one on this thread knows what hate speech is. Just because you want to use it with impunity is not a legitimate case that any of us are obligated to take seriously.

Also, if you can't extract conservatism from hate speech, then the solution is to better your conservatism, not reduce everyone else's minimum standards.

@Collette @MarcG420 To be fair, I was basically trolling and the mods actually had to put a disclaimer to that effect, I don’t mind one bit 😂😂

@nessisonett oh I know, but he said so even knowing it was a troll.

Doesn’t bother me I just wasn’t sure if you remembered.

So many straw man arguments here it actually does my head in. I think everyone knows full well what hate speech entails. It’s not rocket science. This is not censorship. Not even in the slightest. Sony are perfectly entitled to spend their advertising money wherever they please and do not have to pay businesses that don’t align with their values. There’s a phrase for it somewhere. Freedom of... Wait I know I have this. Freedom of spee.. Someone help me out?

Funny how a lot of people seem to think that freedom of speech allows them to say whatever hateful little thing they want without being challenged and without consequences. If I were to exercise my freedom of speech challenging a hateful statement I would be accused of “silencing”. 😂

@Jaz007 Do you have actual examples of it backfiring? Here in the UK (and many other European countries) we have laws against hate speech and unsurprisingly our world has not imploded.

@Nah900 I will never take things personally, unless someone gets personal. I don't think you've done that, so we're good. The thing I hate about US politics is just how deliberately divisive it is. In general US media is owned by exceedingly wealthy billionaires who have set about dividing the US citizens up and setting them in opposition to each other so nobody notices they're being utterly, utterly shafted. I still chuckle that some American's think Obama was leftwing... on policy implemented he tracked right of George W. Bush on everything apart from healthcare, that is literally the only thing you could say he was left of Bush on. I do despair at the dichotomous nature of public discourse in the Anglosphere.

@SirAngry I agree with pretty much everything you just said. Old media is dying. They are afraid to lose money and power so they create ways to divide the people. It is not as bad as it seems here. Yes, there is the far left and far right. I think most Americans are somewhere in the middle and tend to lean left or right depending on the issue. The problem is that the extremes on both sides are the vocal minorities but it is usually the only voices people here because everyday people don't look to engage on things.

What a manipulative way to ban free speech or even press. The fact it covers "Misinformation" is total garbage. So whatever the mainstream news outlets say is real and any alternative press will get shut down. No thanks. I don't care about FB ads, anyway. I actively don't buy a product if it's advertised to me sometimes. Luckily I don't even scroll the home page on FB so never see ads.

@MarcG420 Not sure if you read my first comment properly, but if so you'd know that I don't think this has anything to do with wanting to rid the platform of hate speech, as this is an excuse that has been used successfully in recent years over on other social media platforms, and it has mostly resulted in not just far right (obvs don't support them), but mostly your average conservative having their speech limited or else outright banned if they don't have the correct opinion. If it was about hate speech then we'd surely see the very many far left instances of hate speech (being banned), yet they remain on full display most of the time. Getting rid of hate speech is just the shield of acceptability those who are pro-censorship for opportunistically political reasons (in a most divisive election year no less) always hide behind in order to try to shut down debate and to prevent opposing voices from fairly using free public speech forums like social media. There is also a problem with who is deciding what hate speech is, because it seems that many of those who work for the mainstream social media companies in the west view anything to the right of where progressivism currently sits as far right and thus worthy of the hate speech label, but I guess that's veering off topic slightly. Anyway, Sony (and the rest too) pandering like this at a time where the US doesn't need any more strategic stoking of tensions for one's favoured party's political gain just doesn't sit right with me, and you can bet it won't with the many silent conservative gamers who are likely sick of being demonised at this point, because hate speech laws nowadays - re the internet I mean - are largely subjective in practice and only seem to go one way and to a place which is mostly conservative more than actually hateful.

@MistressTonberry except that’s a false narrative, as another user posted a couple of sources showing this. This persecuted attitude from the far right is not even true. As far as misinformation is concerned it is a very serious problem that does need to be tackled. Their current methods have been going in the right direction but it’s not far enough in my opinion. Currently they will label information deemed untrue (regardless of far right or far left or some in-between) and post sources with information as to why it’s considered misinformation. This is unfortunately very time consuming and many such posts get missed as a result of that.

So your position is to just let people mislead people despite being in a position to give actual facts? That’s just plain irresponsible if that’s your position.

How about simple systems of enforcement like backing up the data you present scientifically if presented as fact or having it be labeled opinion otherwise.
Eh whatever sony donated 100 million to black lives matter who in turn have been very critical of Israel, Maybe sony needs to ask for a refund or else they're funding a group participating in hate speech I guess.
Probably much easier to be at each others throats and not try to treat each other as people at this point.

To answer whether conservative opinion is suppressed by hate speech rules, you would want an uncontested definition of “hate speech,” and empirical data. This isn’t something to be settled here.

Concern about definitions is nothing new. “Through the Looking Glass“:

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.'

@Buckychop_Fandom Wonderful summary!

Minds.com > facebook, parler > Twitter, bitchute > youtube. It could be really simple. Most countries already have perfectly fine and clearly defined laws against discrimination, threatening another person or calling for violence etc. firmly in place, why not just enforce what's actually written in the law instead of some vague mumbo jumbo "house rules" by tech giants clearly designed to control the narrative and shut everything down that doesn't agree with whatever it is that's "accepted opinion" at any given moment.

But, yeah. Social media (as we know it) will soon go anyways.

@Ryguy2784 your 100% correct.

I liken these tactics to bullying but tomato tomaato. It's kind of how big corporations plan to run this world but hey you all bend the knee and say good job. I guess Disney setting us back what 70 years making whites do white stuff and PoC do people of color stuff is celebrated here also? Because in my eyes we just went back to segregation. I hope they plan on stopping Little Mermaid now according to their new "rules" it's an unfair job correct. This crap has to stop before the world burns. This isn't progressive it's regression and if your to blind to see it I feel dang sorry for you.

@nessisonett

BLM who are they and who supports them? Corporations and Governments who also funded BLM, thankfully the UK Government walked back their support but obviously supports the statement.
"We’re guided by a commitment to dismantle imperialism, capitalism, white-supremacy, patriarchy and the state structures that disproportionately and systematically harm Black people in Britain and around the world."

And that includes the family unit. https://www.gofundme.com/f/ukblm-fund

Very odd thing to say for racial equality don't you think? Whataboutism. We do direct business with China, odd the left the wants to defund certain groups they don't do direct business with but are ok with a country abusing Human Rights. ISIS & the Slave Trade was a direct result of the Iraq war, UK & US spent over a decade in that war yes we have responsibility. Tony Blair talk about ISIS as well, seeing as both US & UK funded them, ISIS are a direct off shoot of Al Qaeda. You also proved my point by saying there are more characteristics to being white, your sexual preference is irrelevant, but has been politicalised.

Good.
Facebook needs to be held accountable for The crap they allow to be post.

@Trajan guess you’re done with Microsoft too then since they’ve done the same thing, or are you just using this as an excuse to rip on Sony and be a hypocrite and still support MS.

@MarcG420 Well we'll have to respectfully agree to disagree on that I guess, because I don't think it is a false narrative. Personally, I'm just trusting what I actually see happening with my own eyes online re the conservative bans and censoring, not what I'm told by a heavily biased progressive non-profit whose sole purpose seems to be smearing the political right (referring to Media Matters, but quite honestly at the moment then I could be talking about almost any of the mainstream US news networks or left leaning newspapers - just one person's opinion, but most news companies - including some on the right absolutely too - seem to exist to divide people and drive them eventually to a civil war, and that worries me immensely, and campaigns with imo an ulterior motive to censor mostly conservatives (again, just what I see) I think add more powder to that keg. The labelling misinformation thing in practice works the same as the labelling hate speech thing, in that it tends to be decided by modern day progressives (so rather left of where progressivism was say half a decade ago, is why I keep saying modern day) at social media companies who have heavy biases, so whilst it would be great if we had computers advanced and fast enough who could understand nuance in languages and instantly and unbiasedly cross reference many sources and highlight real misinformation and hate speech, what we're getting is anti-conservative modern progressives at social media companies labelling or deleting mostly conservative stuff, some genuine far right stuff, and a few far left pieces which are so far left as to make the rest of the the progressive faction look bad, but the all important establishment left (mis)information tends to get left alone and even promoted in the algorithm for all to see (btw, I'm referring specifically to Twitter, which has already implemented policies similar to this), which means that this system discriminates unfairly. As for the far right then I don't care about the ACTUAL far right, because in reality, though they do of course exist - and thus learning lessons from the past, it is most sensible to fairly monitor their behaviour - they're so fringe and few as to be mostly insignificant. Haha, I would suggest that the far right being more significant than they truly are is the real false narrative, but that's me getting off topic again.

@Kidfried You don't think there are activists on the left who believe a civil war is coming? Even though a lot of them are talking about revolution? Okay.

@Trajan Microsoft has publicly supported the BLM movement.

Also, they’re not terrorists (that’s ignorant AF). These people are fighting for their right to just be who they are without persecution and discrimination.

@Octane I dont really care much for BLM at the moment. I believe what they are fighting for but i dont like their methods. Wrecking everything is not a way forward. Breaking down history is not my idea of fixing a problem. But we need too start with problems that are in this time. I also dont believe freedom of speech means you should be able too be a big racist around. Their should be some form of control. If you believe thats freedom of speech means you can and act in any way you like its bad. But shunning all the Police is a joke too the Hollywood nonsense of saying we cant work with any Police was a joke too me too. Freedom of Speech should never be used too hide behind too be racist, homophobic or hate full towards other religions. Same goes for the right too have weapons. And walk in city hall is another way of saying we can get too u. For me it looks trying too put fear into people too do what you want.

@Trajan Lets say you believe that you can walk up too a colored kid and insult them and break their spirit just because you have freedom of speech? Or that all jews are evil or that people other skincolor are less then other? Or that gay people should not have any rights?

Look freedom of speech is one thing but if its used like a lot of people use it then the cure is worse then the disease. In the Netherlands its not legal too say everything and i never feel that im being controlled or being silienced. If people think before they talk or have any form of decency these rules would not even be needed.

I think its used a lot in the US too act like racism is normal because you can say whatever you want. But then again you have a President that called Mexicans rapists (funny hearing that out his mouth) and murderers and criminals. I think a lot of people hide behind the freedom of speech too be racist and disparaging towards others. (I hope i used the word in the right way.)

@Ryguy2784 the difference is they are calling for justice towards people who are doing hateful things, you know... Like murder and racial genocide and what not.
It may still not be right but sorry, its a liiiittle bit different than the other side who simply hate and want to murder people for NO reason.
And for anyone defending, making excuses for, trying to down play racism, homophobia, etc FU.
Defending anything/anyone with a body count of astronomical numbers that stretch through history and have decimated limitless amount of people, families, villages, towns, cities, countries etc is just beyond F'd.

What the heck is Wrong with some people.