This is a story about social media technology and a fairly deep and documented look at how a specific group is using this technology to spread their version of propaganda and harassment.
The use of the technology may be political, but I would not call this a political article. I was surprised this made it to the front page too at first but as I read on, it ended up being a really interesting article detailing fairly specifically how social media tech is used to engage in harassment, attack people for voicing an opposing political opinion, alter public narratives on important divisive events, etc. It's probably the most plain explanation of how this process works and how social media tech accelerates it I've read to date.
I submitted it partly for those reasons and partly because it explicitly mentions SV VCs on both sides of this issue. There's a lot of implications for would-be founders who might adhere to particular public or private ethical standards.
Without having to take any sides, just the surprising importance of culture wars on social media could be interesting. The societal effects of social media are regularly discussed here.
This particular issue has become so emotional that careers and relationships were ruined just by taking the wrong side. Because of that, I imagine most HN folks rationally steer clear of any public discussion.
This is a story about social media technology and a fairly deep and documented look at how a specific group is using this technology to spread their version of propaganda and harassment.
The use of the technology may be political, but I would not call this a political article. I was surprised this made it to the front page too at first but as I read on, it ended up being a really interesting article detailing fairly specifically how social media tech is used to engage in harassment, attack people for voicing an opposing political opinion, alter public narratives on important divisive events, etc. It's probably the most plain explanation of how this process works and how social media tech accelerates it I've read to date.
I submitted it partly for those reasons and partly because it explicitly mentions SV VCs on both sides of this issue. There's a lot of implications for would-be founders who might adhere to particular public or private ethical standards.
The rub is the word 'most', which means there's a line to draw—one which everyone would draw differently.
What I can at least say is that HN's approach to this has been pretty stable for years now, and we do our best to practice it even-handedly.
If anyone wants to read about what the approach is, see https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so....
Without having to take any sides, just the surprising importance of culture wars on social media could be interesting. The societal effects of social media are regularly discussed here.
This particular issue has become so emotional that careers and relationships were ruined just by taking the wrong side. Because of that, I imagine most HN folks rationally steer clear of any public discussion.
But some is allowed it seems
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38562946
That story is about economics, not politics.