[liberationtech] Facebook Asks - Hard Questions: Social Media and Democracy

[Yosem Companys]

This is an important discussion. I'm so glad to see so many people weighing
in.

On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 9:08 AM, Richard Brooks <rrb at g.clemson.edu> wrote:

> >> Should it allow antifa? Should it include racists?
> >
> > If the rules of the discursive process are sufficiently
> > well defined, then everyone is inhibited from causing
> > damage or bring forward opinions that aren't compatible
> > with previous fundamental decisions such as human rights
> > etc. To ensure that rules are respected you need
> > moderators and to ensure that moderators aren't abusing
> > their powers you need judges. That's what it takes to
> > really have online democracy - simplifications may fail.
> >
> You are begging the question. Who makes those rules?
> If it is the majority, then 50 years ago gay speech
> (let alone transgender) would have been suppressed.
>
> How do you deal with the tyranny of the majority?
> And the hecklers veto? Are pro-nazi statements
> permitted (in the US, yes. In Germany with a
> constitution written in large part by the US,
> no.)
>
> Saying that it is possible to define a set of rules,
> ignores the issue of who defines the rules and
> how minority rights are protected.
>
> And allowing a majority mob-rule is not an answer,
> either.
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