Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/09/night-of-the-short-fingers.html
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This would be a pretty nice start to a new year… if it wasn’t for what happened in D.C.
Now it’s more of a “better late than never” kind of thing.
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The obligatories, because there’s always some Hawley-style Constitutional “genius” crying “censorship” or “liberal intolerance”:
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I have a question. I think we all agree that the vast majority of ideas being promoted on Parler are detrimental to the US (or would be if they are acted upon).
However;
Does this justify Apple and Google banning it from their app stores?
It’s not like Parler defines itself as “a social network for people interested in talking about staging a coup / overthrowing the US federal government”… Or do their app stores only allow platforms that have standards around hate speech, debunked fake news, conspiracy theories, etc.? I’m genuinely asking.
But they planned for the apocalypse.
“Citizen Patriots” - fire up your CB Radios!!!
These grifters aren’t going to be able to make their mortgage payments going forward. You’re all Milo’s now.
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Yes, it does.
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Go look at Apple and Google’s TOS. I’m sure what you seek is in there. The upshot, though, is that internal and external pressures are demanding an end to Trump’s free reign of terror. These platforms are finalllllllly starting to wake up. It may be too late.
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Apple and Google banned the app from their app stores because Parler doesn’t have a moderation policy in line with their (perhaps recently come by) standards. As non-government entities they have the right to ban whichever apps they want on that basis.
That Apple and Google wield monopoly-like power with their app stores is a problem, but not in the way that disingenuous fascists like Hawley are spinning it.
The issue is not (as Hawley and his ilk would have it) that Apple and Google are imposing standards on what kind of apps can be loaded on iOS and Android devices but rather that (thanks to the de-regulation that conservatives like Hawley have cheered on) Apple and Google are – for the vast majority of users – the only entities that can impose those standards.
It doesn’t define itself as such, but its management has effectively marketed itself as such by rolling out the welcome mat for right-wing populists, white supremacists, conspiracy nuts, incels, and other members of the neofascist right. Having no moderation policies is a key element of that sell.
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4chan 8chan 16chan 32chan! Aaargh!
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Broadly speaking, as private companies, Apple and Google don’t need to justify removing or banning anything. They are not the Government, and FA rights don’t apply. Now, is that a good thing is a whole different debate, but it is how it is at this point.
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Way too little, way too late.
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Here’s what I don’t get: Trump and supporters who are claiming suppression of free speech have repeatedly discussed their desire to repeal section 230 of the communications act, which is the 1996 law that grants a certain amount of immunity to website publishers and the like for what people do and say on their platforms. If section 230 were repealed then just about everyone would have been required to ban all these folks a long time ago to avoid liability for their lies, slander, and instigation.
Yeah, no point in looking for logic or consistency, I know…
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Just usual “rights for me but not for thee”, everyone has the constitutional right to free speech as long as they agree with me, hypocritical bullshit. SOSDD.
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Rule #1 is to own the libs. The Repugs/MAGAts are willing to sink the ship as long as they can take all the libs down, too. They are mad right now because they have been kicked out and the libs remain. They’ve been pwned hard this week.
It does make sense through that lens.
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I’d say the situation is similar to what Tumblr faced. There was content upon the service that is so abhorrent that it justified the removal. Even if only 0.1% (or whatever) of the posts on Tumblr were illegal, that was enough.
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“Night of the short fingers” is one of the funniest things I’ve read so far about the coup.
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Others have answered that question with “yes”.
I wanted to point out that Parler itself is still accessible. They can still go to parler dot com using the browser.
And on Android at least, you can manually install the Parler app. I was told that the link on the parler website now goes to the apk file for the app. You do need to jump through a couple of hoops to enable it, but it’s just some settings on the phone to enable 3rd-party app installs, and is easy to do.
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