It is a great illustration of how transition to the authoritarianism happens (I've seen it happen in Russia in 2000s). At first you don't even need censorship, you just need to scare owners of channels/newspapers enough, so that they self-censor.

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dsl 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Fear is the enforcement mechanism because it can't be challenged in court.

It is long past time for everyone in tech to take a long hard look at the current situation and stop doing anything that financially benefits Musk, Ellison, or Thiel.

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CGMthrowaway 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Chilling effect has a long history of being well considered as unconstitutional harm in the courts

https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/chilling-effect/

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appplication 15 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

A history of anything in the courts doesn’t seem to be given too much consideration nowadays.

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amanaplanacanal an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Who would have standing to challenge this though?

	▲	f_devd 12 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		There is no "who", once stabilizing institutions 'fall' the only remaining option is social pressure (which can come in various forms) but that does require a critical mass as it's very much reliant on network effects.

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CGMthrowaway 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Indeed. Mark Zuckerberg has long said the administration pressured Facebook to censor COVID-related content, including satire and humor. And now the administration has ended public funding for NPR and PBS. Chilling effect

It goes back even further, just see the 1941 FCC “Mayflower Decision” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_doctrine

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mrandish 2 hours ago | parent [-]

When you say "the administration", it's worth noting you're describing actions by two different administrations. Both political parties have tried to silence dissenting views through soft censorship.

	▲	dsl an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Censoring an interview with a political opponent is a far cry from spreading disinformation that is counter to broadly accepted medical advice during a pandemic with the intent of harming the general population. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_the...
	▲	lesuorac 25 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		No hes not. He's describing the same administration in two different terms. Mark has no problems lying to people that Biden administration sued Meta (it was Trump's [1]) and individuals like Joe Rogan have no problems not calling him out on it. Trump was president in 2019, 2020. Covid starts in 2019. It's his administration that the twitter files is talking about when they mention censorship. It's his administration that started the big tech lawsuits. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTC_v._Meta
	▲	CGMthrowaway 42 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		>Both political parties have tried to silence dissenting views through soft censorship You're right, thanks. If I could edit I would
	▲	plagiarist 44 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		They do know that. They are disingenuously attempting to equate asking a platform to remove disinformation with using government resources to threaten a platform into silence.

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3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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cyberge99 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Didn’t Putin then run for a third term and because he corrupted the voting machines, remain in power? He started having dissenters abducted by plainclothes masked men in vans for the fear factor. Quietly, dissent stopped and everyone learned that when you go against Putin, you face defenestration.

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jimmydddd 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think the FCC is just enforcing the rule that you have to give equal time to all candidates. The late night talk shows used to get around this policy by using the exception given to news agencies. The FCC is just saying that the late night talk shows aren't really "news" shows. Probably should have been doing this the whole time. They also noted that it would not be a problem on cable or internet broadcasts. Not saying it's not politically motivated though.

	▲	amanaplanacanal an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Except that they haven't said that. They said they were "thinking"about it. They evidently also don't apply this rule to talk radio, which is overwhelmingly conservative. Talk about putting your thumb on the scale.