Unaccountable censorship of expression by our main communication providers is incompatible with Democracy. Communication is often a natural monopoly, and you can't just "start a competitor" to Twitter and have the market fix the problem (see gab.ai).
If we're going to have censorship on the big platforms (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) and backbone providers (ISPs, Cloudfront), us normal human beings need the right to appeal, public auditing, bright line rules, and due process rights.
It's not wrong for Twitter to have rules to protect the weak from the strong, and individuals from the mob, but it needs to be accountable and above board about all of it or it will make the problem far worse.
EDIT:
Just to provide an example, here are a few ways this notification could have been so much better.
1) List the specific rules violated. Link to the public process for rule review and adoption.
2) Link to ids and contact information for any human beings who made the decision.
3) Link to code and data sets for any algorithm behind the decision.
4) Provide and link to an appeal procedure instead of just a compliance procedure.
Imagine how much better that openness would be for Twitter's users. (While somewhat onerous for Twitter the company.)
If we're going to have censorship on the big platforms (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) and backbone providers (ISPs, Cloudfront), us normal human beings need the right to appeal, public auditing, bright line rules, and due process rights.
It's not wrong for Twitter to have rules to protect the weak from the strong, and individuals from the mob, but it needs to be accountable and above board about all of it or it will make the problem far worse.
EDIT:
Just to provide an example, here are a few ways this notification could have been so much better.
1) List the specific rules violated. Link to the public process for rule review and adoption.
2) Link to ids and contact information for any human beings who made the decision.
3) Link to code and data sets for any algorithm behind the decision.
4) Provide and link to an appeal procedure instead of just a compliance procedure.
Imagine how much better that openness would be for Twitter's users. (While somewhat onerous for Twitter the company.)