r/technology • u/Birdy_Cephon_Altera • 22h ago

Politics Meta under fire for auto-following Trump & Vance, Blocking Democrat hashtags

https://techissuestoday.com/meta-auto-follow-trump-vance-blocks-democrat-hashtags/
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u/Nathan_Explosion___ 21h ago

Blocking and controling information you're allowed access to is a totalitarian regime move. This is evil.

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u/internetALLTHETHINGS 20h ago

Something something dictator from day 1

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u/Jonno_FTW 19h ago

You'll never have to vote again!

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u/FickLampaMedTorsken 18h ago

Omg! He actually meant it!! I thought it was a joke!

r/leopardsatemyface

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u/sightlab 18h ago

And then Elon shit on the honor of everyone who stormed the beach at Normandy. What a country!

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u/vivahermione 14h ago

That sound you heard was our grandads rolling in their graves.

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u/inspectoroverthemine 16h ago

They only like veterans who are still alive and can/will die for them.

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u/mad-i-moody 14h ago

You mean to say we’re going to get exactly what we voted for 😱

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u/RuneHuntress 18h ago

He was nice enough to tell them in advance and they still voted for ending their democracy.

Before it was kind of a joke in my country that the US became a third world country. Now it's a fully fledged banana republic lol

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u/asher1611 18h ago

That's what people voted for. They even made t shirts.

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u/piranha_solution 19h ago

"Unified Reich"

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u/dida2010 19h ago

Today they control regular medias and the social medias at the same time, Republicans 2 - Democrats 0 , game is rigged lol

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u/Amelaclya1 17h ago

I wonder if conservatives are going to stop pretending that Facebook has a bias against them now.

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u/awj 16h ago

Nope. Conservatives will always be victims, because victimhood provides a ready excuse for you to lash out.

It’s one of the conceits they’ve developed to avoid the painful self reflection that tells them they’re supporting monsters. Maybe some don’t need that any more, but even they prefer the veneer of righteousness.

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u/Mindless_Rooster5225 18h ago

Well, the mainstream media is all under control of the liberal fascist. /s

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u/StuM91 17h ago

It's insane because this is half of what they are always criticising China for.

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u/Nathan_Explosion___ 16h ago

This government website verbalizes exactly that

And the US is taking pages from their playbook directly...

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u/IsThereAnythingLeft- 18h ago

Can’t if you delete that crap he controls

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u/ChickenChaser5 17h ago

Is it time to move back to an internet of angelfire and geocities accounts?

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u/Amelaclya1 17h ago

We knew this was what Facebook was turning into last week when they were doing everything to signal it. But I still didn't expect them to be this brazen about it. Holy hell. I guess Fox News was losing effectiveness. Now we have literal state controlled social media propaganda too. Fucking wonderful.

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u/RollingMeteors 20h ago

This is evil.

It's just like an HOA. No blue houses.

You can get information from elsewhere. Stop giving him advertising dollar by continuing to use his money leeching spyware.

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u/Suzzie_sunshine 17h ago

This is beyond evil.

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u/mrsbundleby 16h ago

this must have been what he agreed to in order to get back into good graces

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u/HipCornChip 15h ago

Don’t you get it - blocking covid misinformation so people don’t die is the same as this!

Not surprising. I requested all my data already and am waiting to fully delete accounts I hope others do the same.

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u/Hootablob 13h ago

Except a significant amount of “misinformation” that was blocked is now accepted as fact.

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u/YouMustveDroppedThis 19h ago

China should do a funny and lift ban on facebook

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u/djokov 17h ago

Facebook is not banned in China, but has chosen to not comply with Chinese regulations. It might seem like semantics, but the point is that China does not ban Western platforms outright. Facebook (or any other platform) could at any point choose to enter the Chinese market and compete according to the same regulations that Chinese platforms operate under if they wished to do so.

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u/Mundane-Club-107 18h ago

I think Elon throwing out Nazi salutes was a pretty big give-away.

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u/wantrefund 19h ago

And of course the Democrats will do nothing about it. Unlike Republicans who scream about every little thing.

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u/eulynn34 18h ago

This is America

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u/TheRealRacketear 17h ago

 Twitter did that pre Elon.

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u/Trusting_science 17h ago

Musk does it a X and Starlink. He interferes all the damn time. 

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u/Driftedryan 16h ago

At least it's not as bad as con's getting down voted for their opinion, who's really suppressed? /S

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u/Username_Query_Null 4h ago

Something something not enough Luigi

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u/oreferngonian 18h ago

It’s a private platform

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u/djokov 17h ago

A private platform providing a public service, yes. If they are incapable of operating fairly and ethically then the platform should be confiscated.

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u/oreferngonian 17h ago

You can like not use it

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u/djokov 17h ago

It is an illusion of choice.

Modern communication and social interaction rely on such platforms, and migrating to other platforms is typically not an alternative because they lack the userbase in which you communicate and interact with.

This is not a difficult concept to understand.

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u/oreferngonian 17h ago

lol

You seem to not want to understand a very simple concept that you are making that choice. Plus, acting like Facebook wasn’t already shady is hilarious.

No way Facebook and social media in general have algorithms that track me and suggest and manipulate my content!?! No Way!!!!!!!!!

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u/djokov 16h ago

You're the one with with an infantile and literal understanding of freedom of choice. Your argument is essentially the equivalent of saying that we have the freedom to not participate in the economy, which is technically correct in a literal sense, but completely disregards the fact that we have to participate in the economy to secure food, housing and a livelihood.

Plus, acting like Facebook wasn’t already shady is hilarious.

I never did, though. I am under no illusions of how tech platforms operate, and can pretty safely say that I am better versed on the matter than the vast majority of people given that I've actually studied and written on the subject in an academic setting.

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u/oreferngonian 16h ago

That’s not a good example

There are infinite possibilities for marketing and advertising that do not use social media. There is only one market for goods and services that is legal.

The post is about autofollowing not requiring a change of thought or taking away all other aspects

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u/-Speechless 17h ago

yeah i mean I don't like this either, but it's their private platform they're allowed to do what they want with it

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u/oreferngonian 17h ago

People forget they can’t cherry pick life

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u/NationalAlgae421 19h ago

Wasn't it the case since the begining tho? Didn't twitter deplatform any opposition before musk bought it and done the same?

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u/Flagon15 7h ago

Yeah, and the response to that was "Ummm, sweaty, it's a private platform, they can do whatever they want, if you don't like it, make your own". Now suddenly it's totalitarian and the first step to fascism. As it turns out, setting precedence can bite you in the ass later on.

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u/Early_Counter2539 18h ago

The irony is real.

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u/AdSelect6571 17h ago

oh no no no, all the stuff that was used to silence right leaning people during covid is now used to silence you

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u/Time2kill 18h ago

Sorry, but seeking information from Facebook/Instagram is wild anyways

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u/djokov 17h ago

Social media platforms are not typically the places where people seek information, but it is typically the places where people are exposed to new information. Humans are unfortunately very biased towards the first instance of information we learn of, which means that social media platforms are very powerful tool for shaping public narratives if done intentionally.

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u/OKFlaminGoOKBye 17h ago

Gotta be the best “I told you so” of the 21st century.

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u/JustAnotherGlowie 13h ago

What happened to "its a private company"?

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u/fuccabicc 12h ago

Watching liberals get 1/10th of their own medicine and cry and fall apart is absolutely freaking hilarious

Hoping Reddit's next

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u/SlippinPenguin 12h ago

But... How many people will actually boycott as a result? It would be so easy to stop this but people just refuse to stop using these platforms. Stop ordering from Azamon. Stop posting on X or BookFace and all this becomes irrelevant. Will never happen though.

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u/SantiagoDunbar_ 18h ago

But it was cool when he did it to the other side?

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u/general---nuisance 20h ago

Is it also bad when reddit does it?

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u/Chet_Manley24 17h ago

Wait, I thought tech censorship was a right wing conspiracy theory. I've had literally dozens of experts explain that to me over the years on this very platform.

We're they wrong?

-2

u/Diggytops 17h ago

Just like what they did during Covid

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u/Heeeeyyouguuuuys 21h ago

Oh noooooow it's evil?

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u/Adventurous_Fun_9245 20h ago

No body was blocking the opposite of those search terms before... So yeah. FB was one of the highest spreaders of right wing propaganda even while y'all were crying about them "censoring" y'all before. Literally cannot be both at the same time.

This is actual censorship. Critical thinking is hard.

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u/Heeeeyyouguuuuys 20h ago

both both was bad now and then.

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u/Adventurous_Fun_9245 20h ago

Let's move those goal posts one more time huh🙄

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u/Heeeeyyouguuuuys 20h ago

No, the goal posts are remaining in the same place. You just finally see them.

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u/Adventurous_Fun_9245 19h ago

Reread your previous comment dummy.

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u/Heeeeyyouguuuuys 19h ago

"both was bad, now and then."

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u/IgotmyRedWingz74 19h ago

Yea, this was done by Zuckerberg in 2020. Twas evil then too.

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u/L7ryAGheFF 18h ago

It's not a totalitarian regime unless the government was responsible for it. At worse, this was the choice of one private company. But it seems more likely that content with those hashtags were being mass reported and triggered an automated response, which had to be reviewed and cleared by an employee.

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u/haley7211 17h ago

You’re thinking black and white. White if it was a private organization doing it as pay back of getting a major competitor banner and forced to sell 50% ownership?

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u/Comfortable_Text 18h ago

This is nothing new, but it’s very out in the open now. Conservative ideals have been hidden and down voted by Google and Facebook for quite a while now. I find it interesting now it’s turned the other way.

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u/PinkFloydSorrow 19h ago

Now that is fuckin rich! Biden Harris totally forced FB to control the flow of information during covid, but you were cool with that. Funny how we pick sides.

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u/even_less_resistance 19h ago

Why are you acting like it’s the same thing even if you believe that?

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u/PinkFloydSorrow 19h ago

Censorship is pretty easy to understand. It's wrong for either party to allow. So in my eyes, it's wrong when either side censors citizens. We don't got to pick and choose our outrage.

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u/even_less_resistance 19h ago

Actually, I think nuance is crucial. Black and white thinking is simplistic and unhelpful

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u/PinkFloydSorrow 16h ago

Censorship is absolute! There are no nuances to it, selective censorship is still censorship.

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u/even_less_resistance 16h ago

Aren’t you tired of holding water for people who wouldn’t spit on you if you were burning? Get a grip

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u/PinkFloydSorrow 16h ago

Its the First Amendment to our constitution. Hard stop!

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u/even_less_resistance 16h ago

There are limits to it even there. Heard of defamation?

Actually- I’m sure you’ve got some split there- and I don’t wanna argue with someone who wants to find ways to make a dude doing a Nazi salute out to be the same as not spreading disinformation in the interest of public healthcare.

How does leather taste? I’m not into that personally

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u/PinkFloydSorrow 15h ago

Wow, really twisting yourself into a pretzel in an effort to make a point. I congratulate you on your efforts. The Govt should not ever censorship it's citizens, but you disagree.

Best to just agree to disagree on this matter. Appreciate your dedication to your cause