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David Sacks on WallStreetBets as Parler 2.0 & the slippery slope of censorship

January 30, 2021 / 01:39

This episode discusses censorship in online communities, focusing on Wall Street Bets and its interactions with platforms like Discord. The conversation highlights how hedge funds allegedly influenced Discord to ban users threatening their interests.

The hosts discuss the tactics used by powerful insiders to suppress dissenting voices, particularly in the context of trading discussions on Reddit. They argue that the censorship is a slippery slope, starting with acceptable content and leading to broader restrictions.

Key points include the role of screenshots in reporting posts and the implications for free speech. The episode connects the treatment of Wall Street Bets to previous de-platforming events, emphasizing the dangers of allowing censorship to take root.

TL;DR

The episode critiques censorship tactics used against Wall Street Bets on Discord by powerful hedge funds.

Video

00:00:00
wall street bets is parlor 2.0 right and and what  happened as soon as wall street bets started which  
00:00:06
is the the reddit kids they started threatening  and they wounded these powerful insiders these  
00:00:12
rich you know hedge fund magnates what happened  they started getting banned off of discord they  
00:00:19
got discord as a tech company to kick them off how  did that happen they've been talking on there for  
00:00:24
months and all of a sudden just magically right  at the critical moment where they're also not  
00:00:29
allowed to trade their free speech gets cut off  that's a that that was deliberate now i'll tell  
00:00:34
you how it happens is i guarantee you what  these hedge funds did is they went through  
00:00:39
the discord room and they screenshotted you know  any post that they could plausibly characterize  
00:00:46
as you know hate speech or what have you and you  know and and by the way i mean those there's a lot  
00:00:51
of raunchiness in these rooms but it's not hate  speech and it's not organized for the purpose of  
00:00:56
hate it's organized for the purpose of trades but  what they do is they weaponize these censorship  
00:01:02
rules and they go in and they screenshot and  then they give it to discord and they get these  
00:01:06
guys kicked off and this is exactly what i've  been talking about with censorship it starts  
00:01:10
with something you like and then becomes  something you don't how many of the people  
00:01:14
who support these you know reddit kids were in  favor of de-platforming trump and parlor and now  
00:01:20
they can see where it goes this is a slippery  slope and we've only had to wait three weeks  
00:01:24
to see where it goes it goes to the same place  which is when the people in power get threatened  
00:01:30
they use these rules they weaponize these rules  to shut down the outsiders and the upstarts  
00:01:34
that is a problem with censorship that is  why you cannot let the beast get started

Episode Highlights

  • The Weaponization of Censorship
    Censorship can be weaponized against outsiders when those in power feel threatened.
    “When the people in power get threatened, they use these rules to shut down the outsiders.”
    @ 01m 30s
    January 30, 2021

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Reddit Kids Rise00:06
  • Discord Ban00:12
  • Censorship Concerns01:02
  • Slippery Slope01:14

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