Mark Zuckerberg has announced Facebook is going to dial back on the censorship, allow open discussion on gender and climate, and sack the fact checkers. Three cheers for the Enlightenment. And apparently on the feast of the Epiphany.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/too-much-censorship-mark-zuckerberg-announces-meta-will-end-factchecking-on-facebook-instagram/news-story/cc70dab8ae874a91ce2f6831f78e4f67

This marks an interesting shift in the dynamics of the Internet. It's in line with the views of the new US administration where the "totalitarian" "Hitler-lite" Donald Trump is actually moving to dismantle state and deep state censorship.

This puts Albo and his censorship Czars - Julie Inman Grant in the eSafety office and Michelle Rowland, his minister, as well as the lesser known figures in the ACMA - in a difficult position. They can huff and puff, but can they effectively beat the US First Amendment?

Any ban on postings in Australia would effectively be a ban in the US, but if Zuck doesn't want to implement them, then it's going to be a bit difficult to enforce the judgments.

They could of course try a Great Firewall of Australia, but I don't think that would sit too well with voters.

From my point of view this is great news as OLO has always had a policy of allowing open conversations on virtually anything (with exceptions for court cases, defamation, and stuff right on the edges of sanity) because we have always believed more discussion, not less, is the antidote to bad ideas.

Hopefully, after Donald Trump's inauguration and our coming election, the Albanese & the Censors band won't be in any "position" except opposition.

As far as I know this will only affect the US not Australia.

And it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Donald Trump has been a harsh critic of Meta and
Zuckerberg for years accusing the company of bias and
threatening to retaliate against the tech billionaire once
back in office. Zuck is simply "taking care of business"
and getting in first. Probably a wise move.

We'll have to wait and see if it works.

A Trump withdrawal from the WHO is in the wind again. It was started during Trump's last Presidency, but he lost, and Biden knocked it on the head. Better luck this time, perhaps, if he starts early, and Mr. Trump has made it clear that he has learned from past mistakes. Bye bye to the lavish support for WHO - $US 1.3 billion in 2022-23.

Knowing, as we do, that the WHO wants Australia and all member countries to hand over their health sovereignty (pandemics etc) to it, whoever forms an Australian government next year needs to follow what Trump does very carefully - or possibly suffer the wrath of a man who doesn't care for weak allies.

There is a world of difference between 'free speech' and the intentional spreading of lies - i.e. they eat the cats and dogs. It is the latter that is the real danger.

Its been clear for a while now that Zuckerberg has been embarrassed by the craven ways Meta has knelt before the government censorship authorities.

Facebook was one of the main forces behind disgraceful suppressing of the Biden Laptop in 2020 and was also completely on board with suppressing any and all covid data that the government thought unhelpful. Zuckerberg has spoken before about how his people were assailed almost daily by government authorities seeking to suppress data, opinions and people.

The release of the Twitter Files following Musk's purchase of what became 'X', showed wide-spread censorship on Twitter but even more on Facebook, Instagram and supposedly encrypted WhatsApp. This was equally embarrassing for the likes of Zuckerberg.

I wouldn't say that he has become a complete MAGA convert but he has recently visited Mar-A-Lago and has almost certainly been Red-Pilled (Matrix reference).

The major change Zuckerberg is instituting is the removal of so-called fact checkers who were in reality merely left-leaning gatekeepers. They'll be replaced with a form of community notes. This is already been put in place by Musk on 'X' and have been enormously successful in rapidly puncturing erroneous claims. Its a giant leap forward for Meta and free speech generally.

Additionally Zuckerberg is bringing in a few highly placed free speech advocates. When Musk took 'X' he purged it of many of the pro-censorship staff and departments. Zuckerberg's moves will have the same effect.

The world is changing rapidly since the Trump victory not just in geo-political terms but also with a renewed confidence and vigour by the forces of freedom.

I suspect Australia under the current leadership will be left behind, looking around askant as to what is happening. But as Musk taught them and our censorship czar-ess as regards the censorship of the stabbing of Bishop Emmanuel, free speech is an international good and one small free speech antagonistic nation can't stand in its way.

Thanks Graham Young for being a great bright light of 'free speech' in the black darkness of 'censorship' of the "Peoples Republic Of Australia". The reason that Facebook has been forced to make this decision, is in large part to alternative platforms such as OLO and their moderators.

The Facebook decision puts the Equal Opportunity Commission and others on notice as being the next for the chop. We can't rest until this issue is permanently relegated to the past. There will always be authoritarian, but this period has seen it's toxic weaponization. Google is still the major player in toxic weaponised world censorship through instruments such as Eric Schmidt, Google Gemini, and has particular relevance to OLO's business model.

It's extremely difficult in the current political landscape for free speech advocates to maintain a viable business model, I suggest that operators offer a wide range of payment options to compensate for the bias. There have often been times I've wanted to give to good causes but have been unable to donate anonymously.

Even some Murdoch Sky News channels have been subject to censorship to Woke/ Marxist groups such as The Sleeping Giants.

If even Murdoch struggles to fight these groups censorship, it's obviously a difficult problem. For me the solution is to create our own payment systems, social media platforms, banks, media- parallel institutions in a sense-

Paraphrasing Darren Hinch- a better way of stopping stupid comments is to allow them to speak.

Never ceases amaze me that apparently sane adults are in favor of misinformation and lies in the media. Getting rid of fact checkers or cheering on such policies shows how scared right wingers and the rich are of the truth. Scary stuff that will not end well.

Privatise the ABC

Of course just because Mark Zuckerberg has made a public statement doesn't mean he will do what he says, or does it in the way that we think. There have been many public statements in the past that have been uncovered as stalling tactics. Lets hope that Facebook are "honest politicians" but be prepared. Given that from memory Mark's sister works for Google, suggests that there is/ may be a relationship between them. Google has had an interesting relationship with the truth over the years.

Only an idiot would think this was a victory for "free speech". It is obviously Mark the Zuk moving to protect his empire from a vengeful narcissist, evidenced by the praise heaped upon him by First Lady Elon.

GY

This is a golden opportunity to wish you a merry Christmas and all the best for new years.
Thanks for maintaing the site OLO., It’s all highly entertaining and appreciated.

Re subject, twd be lovely if MSM suddenly suffered the same epiphany as Zuckerberg and made the decision to be truthful; that might also keep them in business longer.

I believe censorship has a place, and it’s about time the right of politics had a few swings at it; after all, once was a time when porn and anti social content was banned from public view, there’s a good place to begin for the Conservatives.

Cheers and a thumbs up

"Never ceases amaze me that apparently sane adults are in favor of misinformation and lies in the media. "

Its not a question of people being in favour of misinformation, but a question as to how best to combat misinformation. Anyone who has the slightest understanding of how so-called fact-checkers were used to suppress information the authorities sought to suppress would understand that fact-checkers are not the solution. But it seems that some (mikk?) are much more comfortable by being misled by people he defers to than allowing the community determine the truth or otherwise of this or that story.

One small example of the shenanigans that fact-checkers get/got up to... http://tiny.cc/32r4001

There are literally dozens of examples like this. Fact-checkers were a convenient way for the authorities to continue to lie to the public under the cover of stopping misinformation. Some people prefer it that way.

Thanks Dan, and the same to you and everyone else.

Puzzled by Mikk's comment. The sort of things Meta was banning from discussion included things we now know to be true, like the Lab leak theory on COVID, or issues where the mainstream consensus is different from the "fact checkers", like immigration, or that men can't be women. Remember when Meta blocked discussion of Hunter Biden's laptop as Russian misinformation? The way I read Mikk's comment he wants us still to believe these things to be "misinformation".

I find that hard to believe, but then, as Aries says, I'm an "idiot".

Pleased to read you admitting it Graham.

But in all seriousness, Facebook has a less than glorious history of preventing the spread of misinformation and hate speech. Mark has also gone so far as to criticise tRump publicly in the past. Now that the man is nearly president, Mark has very obviously got the memo and has moved to protect his empire. (Move fast and break things.) Lots of benefits to that - save heaps of $$$ not employing fact checkers - absolve himself from any consequences from the spread of misinformation and/or hate speech - and now that he has the blessings of Elon, he is spared the wrath of a vengeful president.

If this is your idea of utopia, I clearly don't share it with you.

The way I read Mikk's comment he wants us still to believe these things to be "misinformation".

Thats because they are.

Pretty much everything presented for our own good has nefarious underpinnings.
On this basis I'd say they have more to gain in power and profit by allowing free speech and data mining users content than they do suppressing users content.
- And they can better fine tune their AI.

Well it seems Zuckerberg really has been red-pilled. He's now announced that Meta is getting rid of its DEI department.

Meta will now hire and promote based on merit. Its an idea so crazy it might just work.

Some are saying this is all because Meta et al are now sucking up to Trump. Of course, it never occurs to these people that the alternative might be that they're doing it because they no longer have to suck up to deep state and the Democrats.

The Twitter files stories showed just how much Meta et al were coerced into towing the government line. We saw what happened to Musk and X when it stepped of the reservation and no longer bent the knee to the deep state and Democrats. Only the richest man on the planet was able to withstand that sort of pressure.

Now the pressure valve is released, and Zuckerberg is doing the right thing rather than the political thing. Let's hope it continues and expands.

Speaking of DEI...
It'starting to look like nothing less than a quiet coup detat in all Western countries.
One that moves people out of leadership positions and put different ones in.

The Truth About The Wildfires
http://youtu.be/sHh-_3FshO4

Not sure this info is correct or not.

AUSTRALIAN AGED PENSIONER V's ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES LIVING IN AUSTRALIA

Australian Aged Pensioners
Weekly allowance $253.00
Weekly Spouse allowance $56.00
Additional weekly hardship allowance $0.00
TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT $16,068.00

Refugees and Immigrants
Weekly allowance $472.50
Weekly Spouse allowance $472.50
Additional weekly hardship allowance $145.00
TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT $56,680.00

But the question remains whether or not immigrants and refugees are being paid more in total services and benefits than lifelong taxpayers.

.

Dear Graham,

.

I agree that if the “Free speech revolution” in the US is what we have here on OLO, that’s fine.

We’ll just have to wait and see how it works out on the American social media – not just in the US, but in every country in the world where people have access to it.

What seems to me to be more important is what “freedom” means to Donald Trump. Judging by his track record, I think we can safely say it means “Trump First.” He will probably consider himself free to do whatever he wants — and for that, he will not waste time doing whatever is necessary to consolidate his power in every direction, shape, and form.

It isn’t easy to imagine him being satisfied with less power as president of America than Putin in Russia, Xi Jinping in China, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran, and Netanyahu in Israel. Particularly since he is persuaded he was enabled by divine intervention to stand for election as president despite two failed assassination attempts. And he was elected !

Freedom for Trump ? For sure !

Freedom for all Americans ? Not so sure !

And for the rest of us ? Your guess is as good as mine !

But I'm not too optimistic.

.

So the "Trump as Dictator" meme is trending again. Banjo, have a look at the checks and balances in the US system. Even if Trump were minded to become a dictator, there is no way it could happen. It's just more cooked-up fearmongering from the same people as gave you the Russia Russia hoax, and a whole lot since.

We've already had 4 years of Trump and we know he was a whole lot less controlling of social media than the last Democrat administration. Why would you expect him to be any different this time around?

I could go through the elements of what you need to stage a coup, but why bother when he hasn't gotten any of them in place. He doesn't have a loyal cardre in the army (and even if he did there are plenty of counter centres of power, including the various state National Guards); and he made the mistake (if he wanted to be a dictator) of appointing Supreme Court justices that actually believe in the Constitution. Without control of coercive power and the law you don't have a dictatorship.

If you want to observe how you do gain dictatorial powers check out Brazil and Venezuela. Or Russia.

Hi Graham Young,
They need dictatorial powers if they are to defend their countries against a hostile West that wishes to use NGO's and liberal interventionism on the basis of human rights and 'democracy', as levers to create civil unrest and overthrows.

- Why am I the only one who seems to understand this?
Doesn't anyone else actually acknowledge how the world actually works?

On a different area...
I watched this earlier:

Liz Truss: The Deep State, Grooming Gangs, Economic Reform & Free Speech | The Peter McCormack Show
http://youtu.be/kELRVlOGrT4

What they call 'The Swamp' in America, they call 'The Blob' in the UK.
Liz says that the head of the country is limited by the bureaucracy to actually fix the country, and they're prevented from saying uncomfortable truths.

What I found interesting is they acknowledge the 'rape and grooming gang' crisis, when Tommy Robinson spoke out about it years ago, (maybe even nearly a decade ago) and the government (Tories) went after him for doing so for stirring up the Muslim community.

They all seem to have more interesting insights to share once they're largely out of the game.
It's a long interview, I only watched a little.

mhaze,
"Now the pressure valve is released, and Zuckerberg is doing the right thing rather than the political thing. Let's hope it continues and expands."
You forget one thing.
Trump's election campaign was funded by Peter Thiel of Palantir - Musks ex business partner in whom they founded Paypal together.
As well as Miriam Adelson to the tune of 100 million amongst others...

The future is AI, and they need more data to build and improve it.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/?s=palantir

With Palantir, comes 'pre-crime' - think Tom Cruise 'Minority Report'.

Palantir: the ‘special ops’ tech giant that wields as much real-world power as Google
[This article is more than 7 years old]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/30/palantir-peter-thiel-cia-data-crime-police
Peter Thiel’s CIA-backed, data-mining firm honed its ‘crime predicting’ techniques against insurgents in Iraq. The same methods are now being sold to police departments. Will they inflame already tense relations between the public and the police?

And there are nasty things going on in the world of techies and AI as well.

Exclusive: Ex-OpenAI Researcher Suchir Balaji's Mother Suspects He Was Murdered
http://youtu.be/3KZsKjGL2qs

George Webb walked the apartment with the parents, it was definitely a murder.
http://x.com/RealGeorgeWebb1/status/1874166318053941567
- I haven't kept up with the story, its a couple of weeks old - but there are some bad things going on in AI that's for sure.

If you accuse the opposition of engaging in dictatorial behavior you can hide your own. In group/ out group Marxist tactics. We need to teach the public how to see. They already know something is wrong with the world. Let's turn suspicion into focus. You know when a code is broken because the message becomes clear.

Armchair Critic- Yes AI is a powerful technology, of course this has obvious implications.

Armchair Critic
That information is incorrect. I think you have got it the wrong way round.
See what I mean about misinformation. This place reeks of it.

.

Dear Graham,

.

You wrote :

« So the "Trump as Dictator" meme is trending again. Banjo, have a look at the checks and balances in the US system. Even if Trump were minded to become a dictator, there is no way it could happen … Without control of coercive power and the law you don't have a dictatorship. »
.

I hope you’re right, Graham. I hope all those safeguards you mention will operate effectively and prevent Trump and his acolytes from further deteriorating America’s already flawed and vulnerable democracy (I'm not just referring to freedom of speech on social media but to democratic freedom in general).

Admittedly, there is a good chance that his threats and announced intentions are simply lies as usual. We’ll just have to wait and see.

You say, “ We've already had 4 years of Trump … Why would you expect him to be any different this time around ? ”

Because “this time around” is vastly different from last time, 4 years ago :

1. Trump continues to declare that Biden and the Democrats stole the previous election from him.

2. Trump stirred up a riot of his supporters and fomented the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021.

3. On 1 July 2024 the Supreme Court ruled that Trump benefits from “absolute immunity” from prosecution for "core official acts and immunity for his remaining official actions".

4. Trump has survived two assassination attempts since the previous election. He claims it was due to divine intervention.

5. Trump was convicted on 30 May 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, making him the first convicted criminal to be elected president of the United States. The Supreme Court refused to intervene in his conviction and sentencing for these crimes that were beyond the realm of his official actions as president of the US.

6. Trump is now assisted by Elon Musk, the world’s richest and most powerful individual, a genius with a mission to tackle global challenges and find sustainable solutions.

Trump has already overcome insurmountable obstacles. That’s why.

.

Came across this article this morning and I think it is a good addition to this argument. http://inquisitivemag.org/articles/theme-essay/human-nature-is-our-problem/.

The author runs through the research and the evidence that cumulatively says that finding the truth has to be a collective pursuit because everyone is biased and subject to faulty reasoning, and that we therefore need more diversity, not less, and to find ways to ensure that diversity is represented in the debate so we can check each other and advance together.

When you cut-off people for what you see as "misinformation" how do you know it is not you, or both of you, who is misinformed, and isn't it better to deal with the alleged misinformation via argument and analysis so that lessons from that can be incorporated into finding the truth?

Mikk dismisses Armchair Critic as wrong, but doesn't give a reason. That's not helpful to either of them. And not what this site is about. And it is not what truth-seeking is about either.

Hi mikk,
"That information is incorrect. I think you have got it the wrong way round.
See what I mean about misinformation. This place reeks of it."

- It may help if you tell me which info you're referring to.

I was referring to your lies about immigrants and the aged pension.
Australias age pension is currently $570 p/w not $253.

Hi Graham,
I agree with your point that says that finding the truth has to be a collective pursuit. I think the whole point of sharing our individual points of view here on the forum helps us to see things in ways in which we hadn't considered; from another persons perspective, and the whole process is essentially a path that slowly gets us closer to the truth of things.

And whilst I agree with you that mikk not stating a reason for disagreement isn't helpful, I also think that if 'human nature is our problem' as your article suggested, then we probably shouldn't be hard on mikk simply for being human.

"...isn't it better to deal with the alleged misinformation via argument and analysis so that lessons from that can be incorporated into finding the truth?"
- Agreed. But so much of the world these days is more or less cancel culture.
The world wants to stop you from having the discussion on a particular topic in the first place, prevent any analysis or critical thinking and present an argument as if it has already been settled.

They don't want us thinking for ourselves, they just want us all living in an echo chamber where we all support and repeat the official narrative.
Well, you all know me enough by my comments over the years to know that that's not going to happen.

'Misinfo and Disinfo' mikk.
I've give you an example of just how much of this we're actually subjected to.

In LA right now we've all heard about the 'wildfires'
- Well they're not 'wildfires' if they are deliberately lit are they?

Looking at x.com I've seen numerous videos of people lighting them.
Some have stated there are up to 20 videos showing arson as the cause.

They won't tell you about how they funded billions on illegal immigrants and cut the firefighting budget.

They won't tell you that the Mayor and fire chiefs were more concerned with DEI and attending gay parades than ensuring the fire service was fit to task.

They won't tell you that the majority of the states water is owned by one business.

They won't tell you that insurance companies stopped property coverage some months back, like they themselves knew there was too much risk.

And they wont tell you that a planned purchase of 10 Russian Be-200 firefighting planes for California in 2018 including future plans to build them in California under a license from the Russian manufacturer was scrapped due to 'anti-Russian sentiment'.

Imagine being a citizen in the rich end of town, paying huge taxes and finding out the fire hydrants YOU PAY FOR don't even work.

America is NOT the greatest country in the world, and we'd be foolish to follow in their footsteps.

90% of the news is propaganda,
- And especially so where foreign policy is concerned.
Learn this, and you won't have to worry so much about misinfo and disinfo.

Why America is NOT the greatest country in the world, anymore.
http://youtu.be/VMqcLUqYqrs

Graham Young- "Came across this article this morning and I think it is a good addition to this argument. http://inquisitivemag.org/articles/theme-essay/human-nature-is-our-problem/."

Answer- Interesting article though there are some subtleties that are easy to overlook. The academy suggests the world should be a multicultural salon- because it clashes different ideas together - I believe that they are wrong here. There needs to be a balance between cooperation and competition between localism and globalism. Sun Tzu says that the general in the battle needs to make the decisions on the ground, rather than the government in the capital. Even individual soldiers need to make decisions based on their understanding of the needs of the campaign and the nation, for the common wealth. Friedman says that authoritarian even ostensibly benevolent government interference is usually misguided and untimely. In Post Modern Deconstructivism everything is about competition- it's missing the Hegelian anti-thesis. But Machiavelli said that if you can skillfully create division in society you can rule- if you can't be loved and respected it's safer to be feared. Marxism is pretty good at being feared.

Even in an homogeneous monocultural society there will be different viewpoints- more difference in the decision making process isn't necessarily better- but you need to acknowledge when you don't know the answer and go looking for it.

Upon reading about project teams from different experts, it appeared that they didn't understand what they were talking about. So I returned to first principles to understand the subject matter. It appears to me that the two benefits of project teams is in 1. "brainstorming- parallel ideas" and 2. "parallel work". But this process needs careful management in order to avoid descending into petty arguments. It helps to have people with good attributes and personal hygene. The triangle of project management- quality/ time/ cost.

The multicultural projects seem to have devolved into petty arguments, maybe that was the point, in many cases bringing out the worst natures, and becoming a less, rather than a more effective means, of solving societies problems.

There's much more here, much subtlety, much torture

Sometimes we have to torture ourselves in order to learn, but the point is the learning, and the living, and the survival of our people.

As the article says, when you think you already know the answer, you're not going to find it, especially in academia where you don't have to test your ideas against reality. In business, the best is the one that makes the most money, in a sense it has an objectivity missing from the supposedly objective academic world. There isn't any "academic tenure" in the business world.

Troubleshooting requires establishing a baseline, and testing solutions for a shortlist, and then implementing it- you can't cheat good process.

Thanks GY for the great article.

Hi mikk,
"I was referring to your lies about immigrants and the aged pension.
Australias age pension is currently $570 p/w not $253."

Ah, yes that.
I said "Not sure this info is correct or not."

Actually, I was fairly certain that the $253 amount was incorrect and way short.
What I wasn't sure of was whether the claimed amount immigrants / refugees receive was also incorrect.

Which is why I said: "But the question remains whether or not immigrants and refugees are being paid more in total services and benefits than lifelong taxpayers."

I can't find the X.com post from where I saw it.
But you're right I was probably wrong to post that.
If you had've challenged me on the other comments, I'd have fought tooth and nail, but calling this one out was reasonable.
My apologies.

WTF?

Does anyone under the age of 55 use facebook?