Twitter and Facebook censorship - What will get me banned?

[DJLippy]

Concerned to hear about Venice (AKA Dr Radfem) getting kicked off twitter. I'm starting to worry about my own tweets now. ' I also saw this message from the Scottish police yesterday.

"You may think online you are anonymous, you can create fake profiles and no-one can trace you. That’s wrong! The messages you type and send can be traced back to you.

The same laws apply to online messages, images and videos. What you post now can affect you later in life."

Am I paranoid or is that the thought police?

Does anyone have some tips for staying within the community guidelines and the law?

The only way you can be sure is not to go on it at all, or just post kittens --- even that can be controversial

You could get a PR company to tweet for you, but they make mistakes too.

Getting kicked off Twitter is not the same as committing a crime online. That's a decision made by Twitter based on their own decision making process.

It is highly unlikely that anything you've posted discussing gender critical ideas is going to get you in trouble with the police. Unless you've been harassing an individual or making threats.

The police can ask for information from companies if they do feel a crime has been committed, and may be able to use that information to identify you. But that's only a concern if you are trying to avoid detection whilst committing crimes! Which you're not. So don't worry.

Don't wind up people on an individual basis. Winding up internet trolls, isn't a good move. Know when to walk away and when to ignore people. Some trolls delight in getting a rise in people and that's what they are after. So they can report you. Don't play their game.

Most of the reporting is about this need to 'win'. 'Winning' is getting the last word in. But in reality you don't need to do this to make a point.

If you are determined to get the last word you will ALWAYS come a cropper against an experienced troll.

Avoid ad homien attacks. Always have a point to your messages that is of wider political importance so you can argue why you said something.

Trolls hate it when you are reasonable btw. It doesn't play to the victim narrative as well.

In terms of tracking you down. If its your real account, think about what you have online first and whether you need to be anon. It is not as easy to dox you as people think, if you aren't splattered everywhere or have a name which isn't distinctive. The police will not do anything unless you've personally pissed off their mate (They haven't got the bloody time to) or you've done something really bad. Don't use your regular email or user name if using an anonymous account.

Social media is big and scary and nasty, but its much like the real world too. Treat it as such. Just be sensible. You can do controversial still if you are thick skinned and don't get sucked in to fights.

Oh and avoid social media after midnight. You and everyone else turn into gremlins!

Does posting things like 'transwomen are men' breach guidelines or would it only count if I tweeted @ Paris Lees and said - you're a man. Can I talk about 'Lesbians with penis' or call a pre-op transwoman a man? I've tried to be very respectful but sometimes it's hard to be polite when people start telling you about their lady cock.

Do you mean Twitter guidelines? Or here? Or the law?

It is worth considering that some accounts may be deliberately goading in order that those individual tweets will then breach the standards of the forum.
There is a much bigger picture....

I guess twitter guidelines. I don't think it's illegal to say these things yet.

Thanks for the advice @Assassinated Beauty. I think I need to stop getting involved in spats and walk away.

Yes I think it is worth walking away from spats, unless you really know what you are doing and aiming for and the end result will be worth it. Especially if it is part of a longer thread attached to a well known person - long pointless spats look bad there.

Accentuate the positive.

They are trolls on the wind up.
Remember that.
Lots don't even care about what they are tweeting. Its just a laugh to them without consequences.

Make your point. Maybe reinforce once, without a direct address.

Then walk away if you are concerned.

Remember who you are aiming what you are saying at. You can't win an argument with someone who has an entrenched view. Don't try. Instead think that your audience is actually more moderate people who might not be tweeting themselves out of fear and are simply reading out of curiosity.

Its about getting them onboard not the converting the hard liners.

@redtoothbrush I had a conversation with someone recently who I realised was very young and I vulnerable. I wanted to reach out and tell him that I was his ally not his enemy. Do you know any good resources to share? I'm becoming increasingly concerned that many young people are stuck in a queer echo-chamber and they're victims as much as anything - I want to help them! I would like to share sources - just give them some reading and say - please look at these and goodbye. Does anyone know anything that is good, especially for younger people.

"Does anyone have some tips for staying within the community guidelines and the law?"

They can arrest you for anything, but obviously things that are more abstract are unlikely to be problematic whereas criticising individuals may be more so.

If you were really paranoid, you would want to Tweet via a foreign (probably US) vpn.

DJLippy, you could do worse than looking up how to 'deprogramme' someone in a cult. Lots on this you can find with ease in google.

I do caution about your desire to 'save' someone though. You can only go so far and demonstrate you aren't what they are told you are. You can not push it too far. Its something that requires the building of trust in a person and/or an idea and can not be done easily. Even then, its ultimately really up to them as to whether they will engage with you. You can not 'save' people who are not ready to hear something different. Its their mistake to make to a certain extent, and you can only extend your hand to 'help' as it were so far.

Just try and get them to ask questions about what they are told by others and even by you. Encourage critical thinking rather than telling them how they are wrong. #Nodebate is ultimately about stifling critical thought.

Sometimes taking an indirect way into doing that is helpful. Don't criticise what they believe, but ask why they belief it. Make them think about it, for themselves.

It’s all rather depressing really. We shouldn’t have to. I too saw that police tweet and found it very oppressive and threatening. Especially as I no longer have any faith in the powers that be to take a rational view.

I feel almost like a conspiracy theorist even saying that, but I’m as sure as I can be that I am actually sane. I’ve been gaslighted before and it feels just like that, only on the most massive scale imaginable. I only hope that the balance of power will change as we shine a light on what’ really going on. But anyone who’s engaged with narcissism before will know it’s not going to be an easy ride.

It is depressing, but I do think there are ways of managing it. Trolls want certain reactions and behaviours. If you learn the pitfalls it is easier to get the point across.

I think the most common mistake is to think that you are ever going to be able to change the mind of someone who has an entrenched opinion. You can't. Opinions can not be changed easily. It required a chip chip chip away over a long period.

That's why getting embroiled in a twitter spat, just isn't worth the effort a lot of the time (there are occasions where it is worth it, but you need to know how to do it, have the patience of a saint and remember you are not really arguing to the person you are arguing with but playing to the invisible audience who are reading).

Never assume that you are talking to yourself if you don't get a response. Its the silence watchers who are more important. And every now and again they will pop up and support you or thank you for making a point.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Just having a twitter spat with Jack Munroe - thanks for your advise ladies because I am stopping now, it won't go anywhere will it

@trillertation I feel the same. It's global gaslighting. This goes so much deeper than womens rights. If they can make us all believe this fundamental truth is false then they can say ANYTHING. Next up is racial lines. They've already started with 'intersectionalism'. White men banging on about black womens issues. I feel like I am turning into a lunatic and when you try to tell people you sound like a nutter. I hope I am a lunatic tbh it would be a lot less scary

How do the absolute nutjobs like Giuliana etc. get away with the outrageous accusations, calling Womans place and David Davies Nazis ? Why arent the police arresting him for hate speech?

By lobbying and having powerful friends:

www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2018/03/deleted-suspended-demoted-censorship-silicon-valley-style-180317111051502.html
Deleted, suspended, demoted: Censorship, Silicon Valley-style
A look at how the tech giants are policing their platforms and whether this amounts to a new kind of censorship.

"We're giving this kind of power to a group that is not responsible to the general public. We're not talking about a government agency which is required to do things in a transparent way, we're talking about a private company that does everything secretly," says Epstein.

Meanwhile in America:

Sarah Kendzior @ sarahkendzior
The announced indictment of Iranian hackers arrived less than 24 hours after John Bolton's appointment.

Bolton may get his long-desired Iran war -- now with nukes, which the Pentagon says can be used to respond to major cyberattacks.
amp.fastcompany.com/40549085/will-the-indictment-of-iranian-hackers-prove-the-pretext-for-john-boltons-war?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true
Will The Indictment Of Iranian Hackers Prove The Pretext For John Bolton’s War?

Less than 24 hours before the indictments were revealed, Trump appointed as his new national security advisor a man who has wanted to invade Iran for 15 years.

Be afraid.

Oops wrong thread

Oh thank fck im in yay

I’ve been gaslighted before and it feels just like that, only on the most massive scale imaginable. I only hope that the balance of power will change as we shine a light on what’ really going on. But anyone who’s engaged with narcissism before will know it’s not going to be an easy ride.

No indeed. Agree with all of this.

I just hope Venetia Allan realise las how many women appreciate the work she has done to highlight the real dangers of gender self ID for all women. A month ago I had no idea - came across one of her tweets by accident and was astounded by the hate and abuse she was receiving. Because of her I became aware of the real dangers we were sleep walking into as women. I am usually someone who usually only likes or RT. But when transactivists starts Coopting Black people onto their side by comparing their situation to that of people of colour I started commenting. As a black woman it made me furious. I can’t believe the racism I’ve recieved on Twitter (from Libdem LGBT activists which makes it somehow funny). I’ve only used Mumsnet for holiday research and the mumsnet shopping tips nowadays but have come back on in search of Dr Radfem to tell her that she has a LOT of preciously inactive women in her corner who admire her enormously. Will be in Oxford for womensplqce meeting on 25th April. Xxx

Sorry for the typos- it’s as is if I didn’t realise there was a preview button

Venice peaked me too but I knew her from rl so I've been following the debate on and off for a while since I heard about her Gender Matters talk that got shut down and the woman who was subsequently punched. It took me talking to TRA on twitter and getting a ton of abuse to get what she was so worked up about. Now I'm like a fanatic because nobody sees how hateful the other side is. I really feel like all this talk of 'intersectionalism' is BS - sjw gonna start taking over black civil rights movements soon. What do you think @ratherbeinSKB? Are we being paranoid?

I think Venice saw the realities of what gender self id would mean to women before anyoone else had focussed on the issue. I believe that as a society, British people have tended towards tolerance and felt awkward about challenging MtF trans activists,(always the men who think that if they shout at women we will fall in line). Trans activists have so quickly and so closely allied themselves with the LGB movement, people who do not have it in their DNA to be homophobic (because many of them are actually lesbians!) are naturally wary of being accused of transphobic. They’ve coopted LGBT but seem to hate Lesbians,
making vile and violent threats against lesbian women on twitter. It’s not paranoid when we see trans activists trying to coopt the Black struggle too. After all there are some high profile black trans activists. But this small minority have one thing in common: they hate feminists who call them on their ideology but accuse these women of being filled with hate and try to silence us. What is heartening is the small but increasing number of transgender women who are rejecting these activists as speaking for their entire transgender community. These trans women are happy to acknowledge the facts of biology and accept why there are some women’s spaces they should reespectfully stay out off. It is UNFATHOMABLE that @drradfem’s account has been suspended on twitter.