Essay talk:Reflections on reporting Twitter Nazis

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underlying problem[edit]

@Jack has serious nazi sympathies, though I don't go as far as saying he his one. ikanreed 🐐Bleat at me 19:49, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

He does enjoy doing photo ops with people of color because its good for PR. Bongolian (talk) 19:52, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Another way to find Twitter Nazis[edit]

I follow a few WWII history accounts, and you can fairly reliably find a Nazi or two whenever Germany gets mentioned. Pizza SLICE.gifChef Moosolini’s Ristorante ItalianoMake a Reservation 18:56, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

You know, duce, I don't think I've ever said to myself "I wish I could run into more nazis online". Hasn't come up. ikanreed 🐐Bleat at me 20:12, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
Well now you have. — Oxyaena Harass 20:24, 3 February 2020 (UTC)
Twitter will ban me for calling someone a retard, but they won’t ban people for advocating for fucking genocide. Fuck Twitter. Pizza SLICE.gifChef Moosolini’s Ristorante ItalianoMake a Reservation 00:26, 18 February 2020 (UTC)
That's about right. Here's a record of Twitter suspensions with reasons: Twitter suspensionsWikipedia. Bongolian (talk) 00:44, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

Undesirable accounts and Twitter's business model[edit]

Think about it, if Twitter banned Nazi/extremist and inauthentic (troll/bot) accounts in any numbers, they wouldn't have nearly as much polarization. Civility and rational discourse interfere with Twitter's business model, which relies on drumming up controversy and outrage, and creating and fostering partisan echo chambers filled with snarky subtweets and follower wars. Then they're in the news. (I set my Settings > Content to Germany and now seldom see Nazi stuff.) Danke, Deutschland. CogitoNotStirred (via telepathy) (talk) 19:17, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

Random comment about the prose[edit]

@Bongolian this might be minor and irrelevant in the big picture, but having strong swear words in otherwise neutral/dry-sounding essay is distracting to me. I think it'll be better to just change it up so it's not so jarring from the rest of the work. --It's-a me, Lgm sigpic.png LeftyGreenMario! 22:45, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

After some time going after Nazi accounts[edit]

I’ve had much more success reporting them for posting gore than anything else. A lot of Nazis are fascinated with posting gory shit, especially when non-whites are doing violence. Twitter fairly reliably takes those accounts down. Pizza SLICE.gifChef Moosolini’s Ristorante ItalianoMake a Reservation 16:11, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Applicability to other platforms[edit]

@Bongolian I'm not on Facebook or Instagram, and when I was, I found them horrible, much worse than Twitter, for acting on hate. But much of what you write could also apply to the gaming platform Steam. There too it's best if you're also active in game forums, review games, etc., as well as reporting only the most egregious and unambiguous cases of fascism, racism, homophobia, antisemitism, etc. Anything encoded even slightly to fool "normies" will likely be too much for moderators to get. CogitoNotStirred (via telepathy) (talk) 00:39, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

The driving force behind what happens on social media seems to be the ideology of the leaderhip. Most of them put free speech first and foremost unless it is likely to get them sued. Unless reigned in, this leaves a lot of latitude for hate speech and harassment. The ideology is driven by the idea that more people and more speech will bring in more advertising. Advertisers don't want to appear bookmarked by Nazis or hate speech, but as long as the percentage of hate speech remains relatively low and no one brings it to their attention, they can claim that they didn't know. Bongolian (talk) 01:41, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
Indeed, leaving everything up until it's reported is "weak sauce", as I think you say, when algorithms can very easily detect slurs and the like. CogitoNotStirred (via telepathy) (talk) 02:19, 14 July 2020 (UTC)