A timeout from Twitter; and a new one from FB for good measure

I have taken two Facebook timeouts in the past. One was just about a full week. The other was three or four days.

I've never stepped away from Twitter.

But, although it's not the same degree of privacy, and privacy monetization, leech as Hucksterberg, it's a bigger cesspool as far as being a poster child of all that's wrong with social media.

And Jack Dorsey allows much of it specifically to try to monetize it. That's especially true in the case of one Donald J. Trump.

And in the case of promoting a conspiracy theory claiming that then-Congresscritter Joe Scarborough murdered a staffer, Lori Klausitis, Trump has gone further than normal.

And Jack Dorsey went too far himself.

Now, Scarborough, a one-time Trumper, made his bed. While not justifying any conspiracy theory, any Trump bootlicker, even if not a current one, with an iota of brains knows he will turn on you.

But, not only would Jack not remove the Tweets, despite personal pleading, he wouldn't even put the "fake news" tag on them, which he DID later in the day over Trump claiming Michigan and other states were committing voter fraud by expanding vote by mail. Trump response? Typical bully. He threatened to shut down Twitter. Shows Jack what he gets for enabling Trump.

That said, on the Klausitis Tweets, they first started two weeks ago. I guess Scarborough tried approaching Dorsey in private, and nothing happened. Ditto on her widower, who is the one who asked them to be taken down.

As for Jack? Even by the self-anointed tech guru standards of Silicon Valley, he is a nut. And a grifter. That second link probably explains well Jack's inner "deep state."

Finally, as to Twitter friends who regularly Tweet #DeleteYourFacebook on Twitter? What are you going to do about Twitter? As I have explained above, and per the "later in the day" link, Jack enables Trump because of $$$.

That leaves you two choices.

Boycott companies that advertise on Twitter or
Stop using Twitter, at least temporarily, so those advertisers reach fewer eyeballs.

Well, you have a third choice. And that's to keep enabling Jack Dorsey's cesspool.

I have other reasons to hate Jack and Twitter.

One account of mine was hacked. The hacked version got suspended, but because you can't deactivate a suspended account, the email associated with that is in Twitter limbo. (Jack apparently, though, is unfamiliar with this idea of "burner email addresses.") Another account was suspended because Covington Catholic chuds reported it, my original primary account, in spades. Its handle was "@realDonaldTrump." With the "@" as part of the handle, and the full thing not a name, I charge that this is NOT impersonation, especially when the profile photo was usually one that would piss off the actual Trump.

So, I've got, per Twitter, up to 30 days to reactivate or it deletes. I'll probably use most of it.

Meanwhile, I figured that, for a couple of days at least, I'd take another Fuckbook timeout, to make this more real.

I am also on MeWe ... with four friends. It would probably be more of a cesspool, whether financial or wingnut or both, were it bigger. (Basically, it's the reassembled detritus of Google+.) I've already blocked two wingnuts, one a lying Buddhist or Buddhist-friendly Islamophobe and the other an outright Trumper. Both were in a philosophy of religion group, and both got me a tut-tut from the admin, who is himself a dick, as far as I can tell, starting with half the stuff he lets fly as philosophy of religion. Probably time to leave that group.

And since I don't have my password for it bookmarked on all my browsers at home, that restricts where I use it.

==

As for the issue at hand? Scarborough always has the option of suing Trump.

Yes, yes, Scarborough is a public figure.

But?

It seems pretty clear that this involves
Actual intent of malice and
Reckless disregard for the facts.

Of course, good luck with the jury strikes making sure that you have no more than 1 die-hard Trumper among the 12 people in the box, if it's in most states, or none if it's federal. (And, if this ever actually happened, no way Trump would waive his jury rights.)

Of course, that's why he's not asking. And it's not him leading the push to take them down, it's Klausitis' widower.

Klausitis' widower could also sue, but, in reality? He just wants this to go away, I'd think.

That said, Raw Story looks at the legal chances of both Scarborough and Timothy Klausitis.

And, basically, like the Seth Rich conspiracy theory, Jack is deliberately letting family members be injured.

Meanwhile, if Trump is going to try to punish Twitter (and Fuckbook) tonight, he could be shooting himself in the foot. That's even as his now-announced executive order was reportedly in the works for months, waiting for an excuse. That Daily Bees story is also worth reading for the holier-than-thou hypocrisy of Hucksterman and his minions. If tRump had a Facebook account, Zuckster the Huckster would treat him with the same kid gloves as Jack.

The reality, as an Australian state-level supreme court ruled recently with Google, is that these folks ARE publishers. But publishers have biases all the time. Let's stop pretending otherwise. But, if Jack Dorkey's going to be a hypocrite, you and I can jump off, whether permanently or selectly. (My current plan is to stay off Twitter for a couple of weeks, and then get on just enough to reactivate my primary account, then likely deactivate again and lather, rinse, repeat.)

As for federal law? MUCH of the 1996 Communications Decency Act is flawed and needs overhauling, not just Section 230. Some of it's bad in civil libertarian terms. Some of it's bad in neoliberal capitalism terms, like Section 230.

Update, May 29: So now, Dorkey is hiding a Trump tweet over Minneapolis rioting — until you click a link acknowledging it's violating Twitter terms for glorifying violence. That said, even after clicking the link, it can't be "liked" or retweeted without comment. So there is that.

BUT .... it CAN be retweeted WITH comment. And, oh, it will.

The other problem is a Twitter "infrastructure" problem, as detailed here, with a story claiming this was two years in the works. Twitter's antique backbone, along with a refusal to hire fact checkers, all helped lead to this.

That said, Hucksterman, with a brand new "infrastructure," left Trump's comments up on Fuckbook. Of course he did. And I guess Trump has a Facebook account, and it presumably just reposts his tweets. And Hucksterman's holier-than-thou stance is worse than Dorkey's.

Update, June 11: Ars Technica has a long discussion of Section 230 and possible options. Ben Wittes' "reasonableness exceptions" at the bottom of the piece is exactly what I would support.