Should deliberately posting misinformation get you banned?

[Anonymous]

People have a right to be wrong, and you have the ability to discern right from wrong.

People also have the right to state inconvenient truths that may or may not hurt the feelings of the person or parties in question.

Look, I know times are tough, I know that everyone has their struggles, their opinions, their shortcomings, and their own views on what's best for the world, but there comes a point where people need to be able to look inward and decide for themselves on what's true and what isn't. It's a personal responsibility, not a government or even a corporate one in my opinion.

Sure, "oh businesses are private entities, blah blah blah." OK. But businesses are shutting down people who criticize or negatively review, or inflate the reviews of their products in order to appear more reputable, to boost sales, or reduce a negative and otherwise organic public perception of their products, if they suck, and that's wrong and shows a huge lack of self awareness and a lack of willingness to do better in the minds of the consumers.

In short, be self-aware. Do your due diligence, be honest with yourself, and know when it's in your own best interest to make a change, or to face the facts, even when they are difficult or inconvenient for you to hear and take forward into the future. People need to learn to take the negative, drop the ego, and use the critiques to better themselves. Half of what is "false" in the media is simply an alternative viewpoint that questions the morality and practices of the common narrative.

[Diodoro]

There are facts espoused today that were considered misinformation a year ago. I think we should relax on the punishment on people in general around this issue

But should media outlets be held to a higher standard, and be required to correct misinformation on the same medium used to spread it? Absolutely

[Aerissa_Jade]

This is tricky, I saw things before that got banned on social media during the last election but then after the election came out as valid. As people can play politics and hide the truth just long enough to get the election done, then it comes out later that it was right all along.

Of course you don't see that on main stream media, when they are screaming its false. Later they'll issue a tiny note somewhere when no one is paying attention.

I call it censorship, so your question is really, should censorship be allowed on the dominant ways to communicate?

People should do their own research, don't be a sheep and believe what others post.

[whirled_up_girl]

Who was it that said "we are entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts" so many people have quoted that but I think it's important that everyone get their information on a topic from a variety of sources because anyone person or organization can lie or spread misinformation. When I had more time I used to read or watch both liberal media and right wing media, and the ones that claim to be neutral as well as foreign news programs to try and figure out which political facts were true, each had their own slant on them and I figured the truth was somewhere in the middle.

[OlderAndWiser]

Who decides what constitutes "misinformation?"

[jshm2]

Depends.

Information and misinformation is how a lot of journalists and shitstirring media busy bodies get paid. Always have. Normally this would be used against the East and Middle East. But these tools are more and more being employed back against the West, hence why it's now seen as a "problem".

Legally speaking no other profession spends more time in court for lies and libel than the media sector. Can't really see that changing. But what has changed in that the media is becoming increasing irrelevant as social media is putting most of them out of a job. Just like music streaming has cut down the size and power of the record industries.

[Anonymous]

The spread of misinformation and disinformation about a public health crisis gets people dead. We have a woman at work who REFUSED to wear a mask or get vaccinated because she heard on 8chan or Facebook or some other message board that it was all a hoax and that she "knew the truth"... Luckily the CDC and OSHA implemented rules and our job told us we could A) show proof of vaccination B) wear a mask or C) find other employment... She chose B after insisting she never would (we get paid very well for out region)

The problem is, the only way out of this (and it's getting harder and harder) is through SCIENCE and when people refuse to listen to scientists because they're scientists, then all that are left are grifters, snake oil salesmen, and confidence men of every sort. And while the scientists don't know you to care about you specifically, they care about truth, while the grifter may even know you, but only cares about themselves.

[Gwenhwyfar]

That’s a tough call. Who defines what misinformation is? At the very least there should be some sort of judicial review.

[purplepoppy]

I can't bottle something and advertise it will cure covid, cancer, baldness or whatever without proof. Yet I'm allowed to make any claim I want on social media unchallenged. It's high time the people who start these claims are prosecuted.

[Jersey2]

A lot of the banning is based on opinion from YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. They are not objective. A media that had credibility is what kept the people from believing the wack jobs. Now the media is well known to be not trustworthy so it is a free for all out there. Twitter proper is just part of the untrustworthy sources. Didn’t Twitter ban one of the scientists who created the vaccine because he said something they didn’t agree with? Perhaps that fake news too but who cares anymore.

[OfDeath]

Yes. Media shouldn't be used to spread misinformation. I mean, it's a form of deception isn't it? There's also an agenda to it, or they wouldn't be doing it. Deliberate deception for the purposes of financial gains or other benefits to the deceiver. That's basically fraud isn't it? Not only should it result in bans, there should be legal penalties.

News is supposed to be the reporting of factual information and nothing else.

[Gal67]

No, it shouldn't, any more than telling a lie over the phone should result in your disconnection and cancellation of your phone service by your provider. It isn't the job of, for example Facebook, to monitor the opinions of those who use their services because they are, as they themselves like to keep repeating ad nauseaum whenever it is convenient for them to do so, not media outlets.

[bamesjond0069]

Simply make it easier to sue people for this stuff. Then a court of law can drill down on a "fact" for a whole week with a jury and get to the bottom of it. Loser pays attorney fees.

What happened with the covington kid comes to mind of how it should work. They lied about him and they paid him a lot of money.

[sawno]

No, that would not be used to combat misinformation, it would be used to combat dissent.

[exitseven]

If the internet companies want to be treated like common carriers they cannot censor content. Otherwise they are news media.

[Sevenpointfive]

deliberately is almost the same as belligerently so i say a slap on the ass

[Ray123456]

Yes, people who with a big reach who deliberately post misinformation should be punished.

[Sargentcaptain]

Platforms should be platforms, radical view I know, but not arbiters of truth of gatekeepers to moral values. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech, not freedom for speech I like.

[RolandCuthbert]

Well at GaG you can post blatant lies.

But yeah on other platforms, vaccine misinformation gets you banned.

I say this sincerely. Thank the Lord.

[NYCQuestions1976]

You'd have to ban CNN entirely. They're having a rough time over there.

[MrTaboo]

Because what was miss information just weeks ago (ie cloth masks do nt work) Dr Fauci says now they don't. Wow... look at that

[msc545]

Yes, it should, although perhaps not on GaG since we have a very vigorous group of people who tell the truth here.

[cloud9vortex1234]

Absolutely, because you knowly have Bad Intentions.

[Juxtapose]

Man the CDC can't even get their shit right and you expect Fox News to?