X Threatens Our Democracy. Canada Should Ban It

My friends, you need to know Facebook is a threat, too

Peter Thiel was the first outside investor in FB. Zuck is close to the tech bros like Musk behind the scenes. You cannot trust either platform

I obv can't tell you to ban them, but you need to figure out how to deal with the vast amount of lies and propaganda on them. If they coup-de-grace the US, they will destabilize every democracy. It's Thiel's (and Putin's, for dif reasons) wet dream

The fact is, banning X is free political points. The moment a country does it, it will domino into other countries doing it as well, and they will be seen as having been the leader and first of the movement. They should make sure users know of the federated alternatives before they do so, though.

I have asked the Beaverton to do it, if that counts! I have asked reporters at publications to do it, maybe I will write up a better letter and explain to the media about it.

I have demanded that the Saskatchewan MLA’s do it, and tell me how they are doing it.

Further, I need to hear from each MLA on how they plan to remove themselves from U.S.-based social networks and transition to Canadian-hosted, decentralized platforms.

I do not expect to hear from any MLA, maybe I will get a letter from Moe saying why he is not doing so. It would be nice to hear from the NDP saying they are doing something.

I Just did a Thing

I just started a whole thing, issuing official complaints with the RCMP, CSIS, CSE, The Inspector General, and few other agencies that I cannot think of right now I sent an email to every MP, and several news outlets.

The letter is get off of X because we are at war with the US, trade war but war non the less. The lettered agencies are because one of them uses X and the other two should be looking at espionage and foreign interference.

The Media is included, to try and push it a bit further faster. If Canadian media and officials can leave X, that is a big F you to Musk and a retaliatory measure protecting Canadian interests. I really hope something can be done to protect us, and that other countries will follow suit

Good work. And I agree that the media is included, and it should be highlighted and made more public just how many news outlets are controlled by US companies. I honestly don't think a lot of the general public are aware of how much control the US has over many of our new outlets. Maybe people might have suspected it before, but not cared, but I think they'd care more now, given the US's recent actions, and share that with the people around them.

hey, speaking as someone whose democracy was absolutely murdered in silicon valley:

ban conservative and algorithm driven profit-motivated media, social and otherwise. this may include youtube. ban large language models and their outputs. this is the chief tool of fascists used to create their propaganda and murder the concept of truth. make your (great?) grandfather proud; kill some fucking nazis wherever they poke their vile heads up.

I genuinely believe that if we had done this, we would be... still fucked, but fucked by neoliberals, who leave a wad of cash on the bed rather than stabbing us so they can cum. please don't repeat our mistakes. maybe also fortify your southern border. sorry.

Social media and its ability to boost false or suggestive narratives should be held accountable. Forums have always existed and those with a level of moderation have always provided a better experience for the users and typically developed good information sharing. Now that the moderation is effectively the wizard of oz, he’s pushing buttons for likes, not value to the conversation.
- it's not just the ability to boost false or suggestive narratives.
  
  every single major media platform out of silicon valley has a procedurally refined algorithm to turn your son brother cousin etc into a nazi. this is on purpose. use a fresh OS install from a fresh connection, and go to youtube. search for the most anodyne shit, but especially things a boy might be interested in-lego builds, space ships, tips for running faster. within a few hours of suggested videos, which do auto-play if I remember right, you'll be seeing fuckers like andrew tate and jordan peterson. within about two days of letting it run, without clicking anything but 'yes im still watching' you'll be seeing dudes talk about "BLOOD AND SOIL!" and why your next door neighbor's car breaking down means we must exterminate the jews. facebook does this. instagram does this. tiktok does this since a couple months ago. this isn't just some fluke of an unconsidered system set loose in the wild having bad effects-this is deliberate and engineered.
  
  they target old people and young women too, but it's not as simple and not as well refined. these are attacks. these systems are attacks on your society. they are actively trying to turn people, and young men are the most vulnerable group, into nazis, into useful idiots and potential stochastic terrorists. this is not hypothetical. the perpetrators of recent genocides have talked about how useful a tool it is.
  
  these systems are attacks, and they do have a body count.

100%. X is a hate-filled propaganda machine owned by an asshole in the Trump inner circle and hostile to Canada. Fuck it. Fuck Insta too. And Facebook, though we need alternatives to marketplace since it killed many of those (Kijiji isn't a good alternative either). Fuck Fox News big-time, and PostMedia

I wonder if we could built a Marketplace alternative tied to the Fediverse

I wonder if we could built a Marketplace alternative tied to the Fediverse

It already exists it's called flohmarkt and the code is hosted on Codeberg. Please join the community !flohmarkt@lemmy.ca to discuss it.

Write your MPs and MLAs!

They're almost all still using twitter/X

Imagine what xAI is doing at twitter behind closed doors, and imagine what they can do in this current conflict.

It's too dangerous to let them have power.

In my letter to the Saskatchewan legislature today, I said this:

Publishing such an idea on X, a platform known to harbor extremist views, is not only irresponsible but also potentially dangerous. It sends the wrong message and could be interpreted in the worst possible way.

I am not accusing Moe or the Saskatchewan Party of anything malicious, but this carelessness demonstrates yet again how unfit Moe is to lead.

Moe had posted something on X that could be taken the wrong way by smart people or people of Eastern religious faiths so I called him out. I have also asked for all the MLA’s plans to get off of X and US social networks to move to decentralized social networks on Canadian servers. I may get a letter from the DUI hire, because he is the premier but it will say he will say he is doing nothing. I would hope I get some letters from the NDP in Saskatchewan with a plan but I am really not holding my breath.

We need tech regulation.

Here's a great interview that explains why:

https://youtu.be/jsHoX9ZpA_M

In short, in order for democracy to work, we need shared trust. To have shared trust, we need a common basis of reality.

Our current unregulated informational landscape fragments reality and polarizes people because it is the most profitable thing to do, but it is death to a functioning society.

X is now the mouthpiece of a Fascist government hell bent on destroying us we need to purge them. We have seen the damage unrestrained propaganda can cause when amplified from X. We are force feeding a generation non-stop harmful propaganda and wondering why they are angry and disenfranchised.

Because of the network effect, without a ban it’s extremely difficult to unseat an incumbent in the social media space.

Banning X and other American social media would drive Canadians to other platforms and help them thrive.

I think it might be a bit short sighted to ban it without thinking about who the incumbent is. I would suspect at this point it's blue sky but it is hard to say.

I’m being that annoying guy telling all my close friends and family how I feel so much better on Masto and Pixelfed than the FB and IG accounts I deleted. Can’t hope for much but I do enjoy not seeing ads and I’m generally less annoyed in my day.

The copypasta I've been tweaking since this topic keeps coming up. Yeah I know, it mentions Lemmy, and we're already here, but it's the prepared Copypasta and talking about it now instead of scrolling through and editing is easier.

Consider making an account on a Canadian Mastodon instance. Mastodon is a decentralized open-source social media platform similar to X/Twitter. There are several Canadian based general interest "instances" where you can make an account: Mstdn.ca, TheCanadian.Social, CoSocial.ca or SocialBC.ca.

There is no one company fine-tuning an algorithm to entertain you, sell you crypto, and radicalise you, so you'll need to do some work on setting up your feed. Check out Fedi.Directory, Interesting Accounts to Follow on Mastodon and the Fediverse and Fedi.Tips- An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse.

For some Canadian themed news sources, I recommend the following Mastodon follows:

Following #Hashtags is also a good way to stay in the loop on a topic. For now, I'd suggest #Canada and #CdnPoli .

There are also Canadian instances and other Federated services, but Mastodon is probably a good gateway. If you would like to explore the Canadian Fediverse further, join the discussion over at Lemmy.ca or Sh.itJust.Works (kind of like Reddit) or check out the scenery at Pixelfed.ca (kind of like Instagram).

Even if it isn't your primary social media, at least you'll have a backstop of news and a way to connect without the algorithms manipulating what to show you. Hope to see you out there.

Screw global news, corporatist propaganda IMO

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't agree with such a move, but X is an exception. We've seen the platform owner directly interfere with politics in multiple countries and we know what crowd of terrorists he's been running with both on his platform and elsewhere. The platform owner is definitively a traitor to Canada, aiding a malicious enemy who has threatened our country and set out to harm us. But I do wonder what reaction the average Canadian (who just uses the most popular social media because everybody else is on it and hasn't participated at all in alternatives like the Fediverse) would have. If we manage to elect a non-CPC gov't though, maybe they can use that mandate.

Canada should not ban individual social media services one at a time. It can't be justified, constitutionally or morally. Canada should instead pass a privacy law that prohibits the surveillance capitalist dirty tricks that make them profitable, and design regulations that require interoperability.

Of course that would require a government capable of designing good tech regulation, which we don't seem to have much chance of seeing around here any time soon.

We are currently at war with the owner of the website. We have justification for banning something that can be used against us in that war.

It would be like continuing to use American Air defense systems against the Americans in a full scale war.

While I agree we just need better legislation overall, I also think banning specific American social media is a smart move for everyone involved considering they are all in Trumps pocket.

We shouldn't be using products and services of hostile foreign nations. This isn't a freedumb or mahrights thing.
- Would you ban the broadcast of CBS News as well?
Prohibiting surveillance and stopping manipulation of a population are not the same thing.

Ban all social media honestly. There isn't really even one platform that isn't used to manipulate us in some way.

This is a popular misconception on the right. Regulation with democratic controls is better than letting privately held propaganda machines drive the public into fascism.

While no platform can deliver The Truth, it is the role of journalists to deliver context and accurate data. And social media helps deliver both well researched content and pure drivel. We need regulation and democratic controls of regulation.

Fox News argued that it's their constitutional right to spread malicious lies and half truths. And the courts sided with them. Even when those lies killed countless numbers of people. In canada Pollievre wants the same thing: media that is run by the "free market" (meaning all propaganda). I think politicians will have to choose between what donors want and what services the public good. And being politicians you know how they'll vote.
- I say kill every news agency or make it's they can only say facts and not opinion pieces. No interpreting the facts, just reporting actual facts without the added opinion. And if you're caught lying or trying to mislead, actual jail time for the person saying it. It shouldn't be a right to lie to the public for money. Should be totally illegal to lie on air.

Like, I think we understood that TV was bad for us. That's why we tried to restrict advertisements and had these types of controls on shows and stuff because we knew it could be dangerous.

No reason it shouldn't be on the Internet too. I know the "free" Internet people will hate me, but the ones with the biggest pockets are eroding the foundations of our democracy. Let's not sit back and just take things as they are.

I'm against banning things. It's better to teach users how not to use these platforms.

It's more effective, because it has a long term effect.

I like the Danish idea to label EU products in supermarkets. Information is a good first step.

"Education" doesn't really feel like a solution to things that people often lean into cognitive dissonance on.

Everybody has the opportunity to know how reprehensible the conditions the meat that ends up in supermarkets (and probably your local market too) is but very few people are willing to change their diets. Many people talk about caring about 'loving animals' but when it comes down to making changes, the head just usually goes into the sand.

Kurzgesagt did a good video recently on what the cost to improve animal welfare for things that end up on peoples plates would be but the truth is the only reason why we know what those numbers are is because some places have banned certain practices. The only way to realize those benefits is through legal changes, not 3% of people paying 3 times as much for fancy free range eggs.

That said, I'm also generally against banning things, I just don't know how you make that sort of thing less attractive- a Twitter Tax?
I am in favor of banning X because it's run by someone who has threatened our sovereignty and, to be honest, a lot of people are pretty fucking dumb.
- What about TikTok, Facebook or Reddit? One is operated by an adversarial government, one harbors and aids scammers to steal millions, and Reddit is 4chan light.
  
  Banning platforms is not the answer, it opens the door to banning as an easy solution to any issue.
That idea is beautiful in theory, but useless in practice.
maybe instead, pass a law. one with substantial penalties for failure to comply, that requires 'social media companies' of a 'certain size' to do (reasonable) 'things' in order to operate or make themselves available in canada. things that spaceman fireball would never do
- He's the richest man in the world. You couldn't set a fine he wouldn't just pay as the cost of doing business.
I'm against banning things. It's better to teach users how not to use these platforms.

Just because there's deeper root causes, doesn't mean the end result shouldn't be banned if its immoral or destructive. In particular, we figure out what parts of it are problematic enough to be worth banning, and ban those: I.E. the heavily biased algorithm which users have no control over.

Aside from that, theres also the option of providing alternatives. Said alternatives don't even have to be publicly run. It could come in the form of something like a one-time grant to Mastrodon and opening up a server exclusively for government departments to share announcements or PR with the public.
Why not both?
America is the best example that you just can't teach some people. Doesn't matter if it is scientists and doctors doing the teaching. If anything in the eyes of idiots that makes them even less credible. Don't underestimate stupidity.
- I honestly know what you mean. But I have my principles. It's not good to use censorship to fight disinformation. It's a social problem and it's better to fight the root cause, not the symptoms.
+1.

This just suggests to censor us. I'm all for an open and free internet. If you censor it, you look ight as well join the book burning club.

Education is key. Just look at what they doing in the United St... Oh wait, nevermind.
I get updates on X from my local news and police stations about traffic, weather, etc. We'd need to get this type of stuff into another single platform before many people would switch.
- How will they switch if they're already consolidated where they are? People are employed to manage these accounts, it'll just be their responsibility to migrate to the new platform.
- If you have to use Twitter I recommend using squawker if you have android. Unfollow everyone from Twitter just use squawker to subscribe to accounts which provides a subscription feed that is local without adding the account followers.
  
  Not a good idea to use the official Twitter app anyways with all the data collecting it can do and adding to follower counts adds added pressure to keep a presence there. Just turn into a ghost when it comes to Twitter usage.
Except that it doesn't work. The most effective way to shut down a movement is to prevent it from existing in the first place, not to reeducate millions.
- Every time some entity introduces censorship-like measures, the internet gets slightly worse. And I mean it from a technological perspective.
  
  I don't like to lose good things, just because there are some morons out there.
  
  If you can navigate masses towards X, you can also do it in the opposite direction.

yes