<story><title>Twitter is blocked in China, but its state news agency is buying promoted tweets</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/19/twitter-is-blocked-in-china-but-its-state-news-agency-is-buying-promoted-tweets-to-portray-hong-kong-protestors-as-violent/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rococode</author><text>Twitter just posted this statement: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;informati...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;And a new policy banning all state-controlled media from advertising: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;advertising_policies_on_state_media.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;advertisi...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think this is an interesting example of recent discussions about the disproportionate influence of social media companies on information. Obviously, it doesn&amp;#x27;t seem right for a government to manipulate public conversation. But it&amp;#x27;s also worrisome that a single company has the power to shut down an entire government trying to spread its ideas. In this instance it&amp;#x27;s well justified, but it feels a little scary that the flow of information is policed by a couple private individuals with very little oversight. I don&amp;#x27;t have any particular opinions here on what might need to change, if anything - just thinking out loud.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mcphage</author><text>&amp;gt; But it&amp;#x27;s also worrisome that a single company has the power to shut down an entire government trying to spread its ideas.&lt;p&gt;Twitter doesn&amp;#x27;t have the power to shut down an entire government trying to spread its ideas.  Not by a long shot—the very idea is laughable.  Twitter has the power to shut down an entire government trying to spread its ideas &lt;i&gt;via twitter&lt;/i&gt;.  And that is in no way worrisome; that is a very good thing!  If it were impossible for Twitter to do so, &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; would be worrisome.</text></comment>
<story><title>Twitter is blocked in China, but its state news agency is buying promoted tweets</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/19/twitter-is-blocked-in-china-but-its-state-news-agency-is-buying-promoted-tweets-to-portray-hong-kong-protestors-as-violent/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rococode</author><text>Twitter just posted this statement: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;information_operations_directed_at_Hong_Kong.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;informati...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;And a new policy banning all state-controlled media from advertising: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;advertising_policies_on_state_media.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;blog.twitter.com&amp;#x2F;en_us&amp;#x2F;topics&amp;#x2F;company&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;advertisi...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think this is an interesting example of recent discussions about the disproportionate influence of social media companies on information. Obviously, it doesn&amp;#x27;t seem right for a government to manipulate public conversation. But it&amp;#x27;s also worrisome that a single company has the power to shut down an entire government trying to spread its ideas. In this instance it&amp;#x27;s well justified, but it feels a little scary that the flow of information is policed by a couple private individuals with very little oversight. I don&amp;#x27;t have any particular opinions here on what might need to change, if anything - just thinking out loud.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>SllX</author><text>Not to undermine your concerns, for you raise fair questions, but this is justifiable behavior on Twitter’s part for a simple reason: Twitter is blocked in PRC.&lt;p&gt;It seems fair to block the activities of even entire governments to operate on a platform that is itself blocked from operating normally in that country. Governments are not above reproach or criticism anymore than corporations are. If PRC will not subject itself to fair scrutiny or allow their subjects to participate on Twitter’s platform, then why should Twitter have to play or even allow PRC’s game on their platform, &lt;i&gt;especially&lt;/i&gt; when they are blatantly breaking Twitter’s rules and intentionally trying to deceive Twitter’s users.</text></comment>