Naw, that senator and a certain fixed income website got banned because they didn't follow the script.

The WHO is playing by the official playbook. Folks are already past the point of being shocked to the level that they will cause excessive social and economic disruption, so it's OK to be a bit more open now.

Note that it is actually probably a good and necessary thing to keep the machine that is society running when this sort of black swan event hits. Folks get so shell shocked by what's happening that they give up on the whole thing, or worse, burn it all down, the whole problem gets worse. But for those who have an idea of the actual severity of this thing, it is a frustrating process to watch.

Because China would shut down half of their economy for months over an "ordinary flu" during a trade war. Pull the other one... it's got bells on.

The CDC has done its job well in terms of controlling panic, keeping societal stability, and markets operating (and therefore, goods, including food and medicine flowing).

But now that the coronavirus has gone global, the real numbers can't be hid by the CCP anymore. So, everybody's shifting gears from "controlled release of information" to "active measures".

Anybody paying any real attention to what's been happening in China - if via the CCP's response only - should have realized that what was being said and what were being done were at massive odds.

The nicest thing that I think someone can say about the narrative presented by various governments and international agencies is that without keeping the economies going (and thus, food, medicine, and everything else dependent on functioning supply chains) and ensuring social order, it all comes crashing down. But that may be giving too much credit.

... after the pandemic is over... /s

... this is the one that makes it to /.?

Whelp, that's going to be fairly and equally administered, no matter who the speaker is, and who the target of the speech is, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever at all. Really.

Why did I think that even with 15 comments this joke might not yet have been made....

Not sure that's a very good deal. But, to each their own, I suppose...

What a great way to go about privacy rights!

I'm sure that $FAVORITE_POLITICIAN will make sure that only $BAD_PEOPLE have their data used against them, and that $HORRIBLE_POLITICIAN will never be able to have sufficient power to turn this against me and those I care about.

... but we're ok with that, because we're making a bunch of money, and are increasingly able to influence thought, politics, religion, and behavior.

So, why in the world should re re-do our entire backend when it's accomplishing exactly what we want it to?

Thing is - twitter really isn't supposed to be about listening to individual voices. Rather, it's about listening to and being a part of the mob. It's about groupthink - and it's increasingly curated and guided, as it were, in a way that "encourages" users of the platform to embrace certain worldviews and political stances.

So, while it is incredibly frustrating to me to try to unroll threads at times to get the full picture of a conversation, I strongly suspect that this is by design.

... built in at the kernel level?

But imagine if it has legit health benefits. How long will it be before we're "organ banking" and using manditory blood donations for crimes?

Larry Niven was way too close for comfort....

Facebook has become curated (sometimes user generated) content, with comment sections.

Between their News, censorship, and all the rest, they've already moved from platform to publisher.

Maybe it would be a good thing if they moved forward with the resistance's demands on this one. At least then it would drag the truth out into the light, and they could be regulated and treated like the entity they actually are, instead of that which they pretend to be.

Dorsey's position is basically: "Sure, you have freedom of speech, you can say whatever you want. But have no doubt, we own the town square now. So, sure, you're free to whisper in a proverbial back alley or abandoned lot, but if you don't freely conform to the approved worldview and position, we'll feel free to keep your disruptive and contemptible speech muted."