Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Twitter Locks Accounts For Fact Checking The President

Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Twitter Locks Accounts For Fact Checking The President

4 years ago
Anonymous $qOHwDUKgAF

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200806/11274745062/content-moderation-scale-is-impossible-twitter-locks-accounts-fact-checking-president.shtml

Another day in which we get to explain how content moderation is impossible to do well at scale. On Wednesday, Twitter (and Facebook) chose to lock the Trump campaign's account after it aired a dangerous and misleading clip from Fox News' "Fox & Friends" in which the President falsely claimed that children are "almost immune" from COVID-19.

People can debate whether it was appropriate or not for Twitter (and Facebook) to make those content moderation decisions, but it seems perfectly defensible. Claiming that kids are "almost immune" is insane and dangerous. However, where things get sketchy on the content moderation front is that Twitter also then ended up freezing the accounts of journalists and activists who fact checked that "Fox & Friends" nonsense:

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