this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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A little context might have been nice, but then the musk hate and conspiracy theories would be harder to justify:
They're also challenging the legal request in court: https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1920426409358455081
Yeah, he is forced to, but just to be clear, he will bitch for a month if this happens for thoroughly legitimate reasons in any country that is a functioning democracy e.g. UK, Brazil, Biden US, Germany, South Africa...
X is challenging the legal order in court btw:
https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1920426409358455081
Just like they have done and are doing in basically every country that makes legal demands like this.
Edit: the dogpiling in here is insane.
I post a link to a tweet where X spell out that they were FORCED by the Turkish government to ban the account, and that they are challenging the order in court because they don’t believe in this violation of free speech……and I get downvoted?
Oh thats funny because they refused to take down the Sydney stabbing videos, despite being told to for months. They gave us a half arsed geoblock for Australia while still allowing the offending material to circulate.
And Musk will routinely attack free speech, he does it all the time on X to users e.g. plane tracker guy
Edit: Ah you're a rightist troll trying to pretend Musk isnt a Nazi, I see.
They took the stabbing videos down in Australia. They fought against removing them from the rest of the world saying that the Australian “safety commissioner” doesn’t have the jurisdiction to do that.
The context is in the article in the OP. It doesn't really matter. Elon is notoriously apathetic about the law. He could choose not to comply as he does so very often and realistically face very little in the way of repercussions. But that's how little he actually cares about free speech.
The context is extremely important in this one. It changes the sentiment from “Musk is censoring the political opposition because he supports the government” to “Musk complied with the legal demands so as to not have to remove X from the entire country of Turkey, and is fighting the demands in court as he says they are censorship”.
X is now notoriously law abiding, but also notorious for fighting against government ordered censorship in court. They comply with legal orders so as to not face legal trouble, and then file legal challenges - even going so far as to pay for and help with legal challenges for individuals who the government are censoring.
It's not important. Elon did not say "I'm a free speech absolutist within the confines of the law". Free speech absolutism does not make exceptions for law.
Further, those legal demands were made by a foreign country with no authority over him or his company. Here's some helpful context: Elon doesn't even recognize the local authority but suddenly he bends knee to authority demanded from the other side of the planet? Nah.
It absolutely does when you’re running a business.
Companies operating in a country need to follow that countries laws, or they can’t operate in that country. Fact.
Why do you think the GDPR laws were such a big deal worldwide?
It absolutely does not. If you're running a business you simply don't refer to yourself as a "free speech absolutist" because it's fucking stupid.
Then a "free speech absolutist" would stop operating in that country. Fact.
So you think the best way for a company to fight a government trying to eliminate free speech from their country is to…..checks notes…..remove their product that is used by millions from said country?
Not to take them to court to fight their attempts to stifle free speech, but to just……leave?
"Free speech absolutism" is not "the best way" to do a God damn thing. This has nothing to do with the "best way" to do anything. It's about the owner being a pathological fucking liar.
You said a free speech absolutist would stop operating in that country. I’m asking if you think that’s what they should have done here.
Complying with the incumbent to silence opposition is a political decision. Erdoğan is known for silencing and jailing opposition and anyone with knowledge of Turkish politics is aware of this
No it's not. Did you even read the linked X Global Affairs post?
It's not a political decision, it's a legal one. If they don't comply then the entire site can legally be banned from the entire country, for example.
Yes I read that and hold that this decision is still highly political. Technically X can choose to simply not exist in Turkey. Obviously they won't do this and Erdogan knows this, profit is king. This doesn't change the fact that they are choosing to cow to threats by a dictator. Legal decisions are political and have political implications. Who do you think wrote those laws?
So you think that instead of complying while fighting the legal order and being able to tell users that what is happening, you think that they should pull the entire site from the country?
They aren’t “choosing to bow to threats by a dictator” - they are following the law, and fighting the legal order through the courts.
Come on mate lol. They’re doing the absolute most user and free speech friendly thing they can possibly do given the situation.
Question - what would you have done in this situation if you owned and ran X?
I would never stoop so low as to exploit the labor of others
What?
I am well aware it isn't a logical business decision, I just don't care
I’m asking who’s labor is being exploited here?
The employees of X, or any company for that matter. Businesses can only profit by extracting a portion of the value created by a laborer as value can only come from labor. This is exploitative because the laborer is by default put into a situation where they must sell their labor or starve and even still they only recieve a small percentage of the value they produce. This is effectively coercion at the threat of destitution.
O……..k………..
So absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand, just ……… anything but communism is bad?
Yeah I made my point about the topic at hand but you kept asking questions so the topic changed.
The topic never even remotely veered towards the benefits of communism over capitalism.
If you want the reasoning behind my answer I can give that. I have a very strong and rigid code of ethics unbound by the social and economic structures I was born in to. I believe in the efficacy of civil disobedience and believe all people should engage in it when reasonable. I apply this not just to people but also whatever businesses they own. I believe we should not abide by unjust laws and should take the consequences for breaking them. Therefore X should not have abided by this unjust law and should have let itself be banned. I simply do not care how it would effect their profits or if it is a good business decision.
I never mentioned communism, I only described capitalism
And the exploitation of labor? Where did that come into it?
You asked what I would do if I owned and ran X. I said I would never exploit others for labor as a way of saying I would never own a business.
Ah ok so you didn’t answer my question, you wanted to prove some anti-capitalist point that had nothing to do with the conversation.