Comment by ironman1478
5 months ago
There isn't really a good solution here. A precedent for banning speech isn't a good one, but COVID was a real problem and misinformation did hurt people.
The issue is that there is no mechanism for punishing people who spread dangerous misinformation. It's strange that it doesn't exist though, because you're allowed to sue for libel and slander. We know that it's harmful, because people will believe lies about a person, damaging their reputation. It's not clear why it can't be generalized to things that we have a high confidence of truth in and where lying is actively harmful.
No speech was banned. Google didn't prevent anyone from speaking. They simply withheld their distribution. No one can seem to get this right. Private corporations owe you almost nothing and certainly not free distribution.
In the article it mentions that Google felt pressured by the government to take the content down. Implying that they wouldn't have if it wasn't for the government. I wasn't accusing Google of anything, but rather the government.
Maybe it's not banning, but it doesn't feel right? Google shouldn't have been forced to do that and really what should've happened is that the people that spread genuine harmful disinformation, like injecting bleach, the ivermectin stuff or the anti-vax stuff, should've faced legal punishment.
What if the government is the source of misinformation?
It's interesting you say that, because the government is saying Tylenol causes autism in infants when the mother takes it. The original report even says more verification is required and it's results are inconclusive.
I wouldn't be surprised if some lawsuit is incoming from the company that manufactures it.
We have mechanisms for combatting the government through lawsuits. If the government came out with lies that actively harm people, I hope lawsuits come through or you know... people organize and vote for people who represent their interests.
It certainly happens we're currently flooded with it from current regime
- Tylenol causes autism
- Vaccines cause autism
- Vaccines explode kids hearts
- Climate change is a hoax by Big Green
- "Windmill Farms" are more dangerous for the environment than coal
- I could go on but I won't
Virtually all of the supposed misinformation turned out not to be that at all. Period, the end. All the 'experts' were wrong, all those that we banned off platforms (the actual experts) were right
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