Bluesky just verified ICE
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I think that tech companies taking a stand on what their employees and/or users believe in is a reasonable thing.
How would that actually work? Like, you'd have pro-Trump and anti-Trump companies that only employ pro- and anti-Trump employees and only serve pro- and anti-Trump customers? What happens when someone who is basically pro-Trump thinks that ICE goes too far?
i mean, this is how it works in practice.
it's just that the company is on whomevers side that's in power. they donate to both campaigns usually.
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I do see your point and I'll actually upvote you here. But I do think there's a meaningful difference.
Software is just an idea written down rigorously. Various societies created various conventions and social contracts to control dissemination and usage of ideas, both in their pure and written down forms. Capitalist societies generally defer to the author of the idea for how they want it handled (at least for the first few decades), so that the author can earn some money from it (of course, even ideas are monetized under capitalism) - this is patent and copyright law.
The free software movement is just a novel application of the copyright law. By sharing ideas freely but with a license that forces everyone using the idea to share their derivative ideas freely as well, it is attempting to destroy the spirit of copyright law by using the letter of copyright law.
With all this in mind, let's examine what it would mean to add the "don't be evil" clause to an otherwise FOSS license.
- In ideal circumstances, a society's system of laws and social norms should incorporate "don't be evil" in it already. Hate speech and nazism should be prohibited and punished, so the clause would be superfluous.
- In "ordinary circumstances" of neoliberal capitalism, there are agencies that will be acting in bad faith but will stand above any laws, be it geneva conventions, hate speech laws or (boring) copyright law. You won't be able to enforce a "don't be evil" clause against the CIA or ICE or the Rockefeller. They can just take your software and use it, so the clause would be of little use typically. This is partially applicable to our current situation.
- In extraordinary circumstances, such as capitalism in advanced decay a.k.a fascism, the law will be ignored by most evil actors anyways. Law is just a social contract and fascism is deliberately breaking all social contracts. Nobody will enforce copyright law in favor of an individual FOSS developer, especially against someone who's on the side of the regime. So the clause is completely useless. This is also applicable to our situation.
There is some edge-cases in the middle where a "don't be evil" clause might make a bit of sense. If the contract law (which includes copyright law) is still well-respected, but the social contract itself is falling apart around it, it might be used to prevent some nazis somewhere from using your software for a short while, but that situation is always unstable and does not last. In any case nazis are known for ignoring all social contracts, including court orders, so even this is questionable.
There are also downsides in any "don't be evil" clause, because it requires you to rigorously define what you mean by "evil". This is actually really hard to do well without relying on existing laws (which ruins the point), and will usually either leave nazis leeway to get away with using it, or harm legitimate users, or both - especially because legitimate users are less likely to try pushing the boundaries.
This is explicitly different from what Bluesky is doing. They are hosting known nazis. Nothing is stopping them from banning ICE and making it into a point of pride, it is really easy. There is no downside, no legitimate user hurt. It's as easy of a decision as one can make.
To reiterate,
So the mastodon service supports Nazis.
Mastodon-the-service doesn't really exist (unless you count mastodon.social). But the fediverse in general is not supporting nazis. Nazis are banned and defederated.
Mastodon-the-software may "support" nazis in the same way as the idea of a printing press (from your other comment) supported nazis.
They’re providing software to Nazis, and I don’t really see how that makes them better than providing a place to post.
Bluesky is categorically worse because it doesn't have the "don't be evil" clause in the software licenses either, and it is hosting nazis directly on the platform they run.
So for the first part, I don't disagree at all. I just don't think the logistics or theoretical necessity is a bearing on the symbolic-ness of it. Same for the effectiveness of it. Even if it changed literally nothing and no one would ever know I still wouldn't shake hands with someone I considered evil.
I don't see defining a subset of what you consider evil, like dissemination of hate speech, to be a downside.
There's a lot of complex questions around a platform curating ideological content which could possibly make them loose certain platform protections. Right now most platforms are roughly content neutral because it allows them to be viewed as platforms, rather than publishers. This is more a response to the claim that there's no reason for them not to remove ice. It may or may not be compelling, but it's a real reason.
As for the use of the word "service", sometimes my hands type slower than my brain thinks. My intent was to convey "those who develop and control the mastodon license". Hopefully my original statement makes more sense in that context.
Those are the people providing the printing press schematic analog. Obviously an idea can't support an ideology in that sense.I'm not of the opinion either supports them in a way that's worth getting angry over.
We also aren't talking about being angry at ISPs for being willing to deliver packets to and from ice or Nazis, or any of the other entities that do less then the most they could possibly do to distance themselves. -
The only thing I love more than government censoring my internet is corporations censoring my internet 🥰
(You, apparently)
I don't really give a shit who censors Nazis as long as it gets done.
I also would never use Bluesky though.
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Normally I'd agree, but ICE is a government organization and since people get their news on social media these days, it makes sense that ICE doesn't get banned as long as they follow ToS.
"Normally I'd agree, but slave catchers are government agents and since people get their news from newspapers these days, it makes sense that my local newspaper allow them to run segments about why black people don't deserve freedom"
ok liberal
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"Normally I'd agree, but slave catchers are government agents and since people get their news from newspapers these days, it makes sense that my local newspaper allow them to run segments about why black people don't deserve freedom"
ok liberal
Thus why I mentioned that they must follow the ToS. If they actually did start to post discriminatory content or hate speech on Bluesky, then they should by all means become banned like everyone else would since that would be breaking ToS. Those "gotta catch em all" posts on Twitter is not going to be tolerated by Bluesky...at least I hope. If not, then I suppose you're right, Mastodon is the only place that won't platform fascist propaganda...at least not on the main instance
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Thus why I mentioned that they must follow the ToS. If they actually did start to post discriminatory content or hate speech on Bluesky, then they should by all means become banned like everyone else would since that would be breaking ToS. Those "gotta catch em all" posts on Twitter is not going to be tolerated by Bluesky...at least I hope. If not, then I suppose you're right, Mastodon is the only place that won't platform fascist propaganda...at least not on the main instance
ICE's mere existence is discriminatory and providing them with any platform whatsoever, including a platform where they're forced to feign some degree of legitimacy, furthers that fundamental purpose. You are defending the right of Nazis to do Nazi shit.
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Bold of you to assume this person thinks /j
Good one.......... Let's only suppress speach we dont like... Take off your progressive glasses and look at what happened then vs. now. If you honestly did, you'd see how lazy of an argument it is.
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The claim that Bluesky "verifies Nazis" because ICE got a blue check is peak absurdity—it's a government agency enforcing immigration law, not goose-stepping brownshirts.
Verification confirms identity/authenticity (anti-impersonation), not endorsement, letting users freely mute/block ICE while spotting fakes (pro/anti-ICE sock puppets).
To the history blind people comparing ICE to Nazis, If ICE were "Nazis," 2025 inauguration riots get crushed Day 1 with tanks, not due process.
Reality: routine deportations ≠ death camps.
it’s a government agency enforcing immigration law, not goose-stepping brownshirts.
"Enforcing immigration law" = Deporting anybody they think looks too brown
And yes, they are goose-stepping brownshirts, or at least they wish they were.
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The only thing I love more than government censoring my internet is corporations censoring my internet 🥰
(You, apparently)
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Good one.......... Let's only suppress speach we dont like... Take off your progressive glasses and look at what happened then vs. now. If you honestly did, you'd see how lazy of an argument it is.
Fixed it for you because you can't recognize the difference between a joke and an argument
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The claim that Bluesky "verifies Nazis" because ICE got a blue check is peak absurdity—it's a government agency enforcing immigration law, not goose-stepping brownshirts.
Verification confirms identity/authenticity (anti-impersonation), not endorsement, letting users freely mute/block ICE while spotting fakes (pro/anti-ICE sock puppets).
To the history blind people comparing ICE to Nazis, If ICE were "Nazis," 2025 inauguration riots get crushed Day 1 with tanks, not due process.
Reality: routine deportations ≠ death camps.
routine deportations ≠ death camps
You're right, but I do think the deaths in the death camps make them death camps.
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Good one.......... Let's only suppress speach we dont like... Take off your progressive glasses and look at what happened then vs. now. If you honestly did, you'd see how lazy of an argument it is.
Going to go a step further to point out that freedom of speech only applies to people, not organizations. Put on your reading comprehension glasses and see how lazy of a thinker you are.
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ICE's mere existence is discriminatory and providing them with any platform whatsoever, including a platform where they're forced to feign some degree of legitimacy, furthers that fundamental purpose. You are defending the right of Nazis to do Nazi shit.
So I assume you'd be for banning the White House account on Bluesky as well? They're controlled by the fascists right now after all. The New York Times has promoted transphobia in the past and they have a verified Bluesky account. Should they be banned too?
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So I assume you'd be for banning the White House account on Bluesky as well? They're controlled by the fascists right now after all. The New York Times has promoted transphobia in the past and they have a verified Bluesky account. Should they be banned too?
Hell yeah let's ban the White House and mainstream media too, now you're getting it! NYT and most mainstream media outlets are also guilty of pro-genocide propaganda.
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Hell yeah let's ban the White House and mainstream media too, now you're getting it! NYT and most mainstream media outlets are also guilty of pro-genocide propaganda.
Sounds like one hell of an ecochamber they'd be creating if Bluesky was that strict about it. Guess we really are just segregating polticial ideologies into different platforms now so everyone can continue to become radicalized into opposite directions until there's no choice but to fight a Civil War to defeat the fascists.
Oh well, I prefer Mastodon myself. Personally, I only really use Bluesky for following content creators I like. Unfortunately, the chances of someone having a Mastodon account is rare right now (at least in my experience, but I'm still relatively new to the fediverse). I'd rather not be greeted with CSAM whilst doing the same for X anymore. We can at least agree that X should no longer be considered at all.
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Sounds like one hell of an ecochamber they'd be creating if Bluesky was that strict about it. Guess we really are just segregating polticial ideologies into different platforms now so everyone can continue to become radicalized into opposite directions until there's no choice but to fight a Civil War to defeat the fascists.
Oh well, I prefer Mastodon myself. Personally, I only really use Bluesky for following content creators I like. Unfortunately, the chances of someone having a Mastodon account is rare right now (at least in my experience, but I'm still relatively new to the fediverse). I'd rather not be greeted with CSAM whilst doing the same for X anymore. We can at least agree that X should no longer be considered at all.
Yes, Nazis should be segregated and isolated. Just Nazis, not all "political ideologies". If that's an echo chamber, then ECHOO-OOOO-OOOOO-OOOO mf.
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They've been given a platform to spread their hate. Yes.
How can you be sure?
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As fun trolling Fascists is the point is to get them to go away and never come back.
Giving them a verified account is counter to that goal
No, it validates that the information is from a real source when they get banned for hate crimes and the actual real ability for that to happen is much, much more important than the actual minimal dampening of propaganda this proposed solution achieves
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No, it validates that the information is from a real source when they get banned for hate crimes and the actual real ability for that to happen is much, much more important than the actual minimal dampening of propaganda this proposed solution achieves
Maybe but I have a better idea…don’t give them an account whatsoever.
They want a microblog they can make it themselves.
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How can you be sure?
They're verified.
