I have been a long time lurker on Hacker News. I love the community you have built here, and I have learned a lot from the articles, and even more so, the comments shared here. This place has been a reaffirming corner of the internet with many smart, thoughtful and kind people for many years now. In light of this, I'd like to shed light on two oppressive regimes in India and Sri Lanka that have been stifling peaceful protests, and pressuring Big Tech (specifically Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify) to remove content related to them.
What I DO think warrants a long, introspective look at ourselves and our employers is the fact that these governments - often with long, documented histories of oppression, murder, rape, censorship, and torture - are successfully pressuring first-world tech companies into silencing people across the world (not just their own citizens). The people who fled these regimes cannot engage in free speech in their new homes, because Big Tech all too easily puts commerce over conscience.
Some examples from the last week:
- YouTube taking down music videos in support of Punjabi farmers' protests [1]
The Indian farmers' protests have been well covered (especially since Rihanna tweeted about it). Is taking down music videos supporting protesters what a company that 'Does no evil' do?
- Sri Lanka's 70 years of oppression against it's Tamil minority is well-documented, but recent protests for accountability less so [2].
Is Instagram's censorship of the #eelam and #tamileelam hashtags - which refer to the traditional homeland [2], fitting for a company that has found itself - for better or for worse - the biggest platform for speech in the world? Does Facebook really need to bend to the will of a government that denies it's murder of over 100,000 minority citizens? Should Spotify be removing their music?
What I DO think warrants a long, introspective look at ourselves and our employers is the fact that these governments - often with long, documented histories of oppression, murder, rape, censorship, and torture - are successfully pressuring first-world tech companies into silencing people across the world (not just their own citizens). The people who fled these regimes cannot engage in free speech in their new homes, because Big Tech all too easily puts commerce over conscience.
Some examples from the last week:
- YouTube taking down music videos in support of Punjabi farmers' protests [1] The Indian farmers' protests have been well covered (especially since Rihanna tweeted about it). Is taking down music videos supporting protesters what a company that 'Does no evil' do?
- Sri Lanka's 70 years of oppression against it's Tamil minority is well-documented, but recent protests for accountability less so [2]. Is Instagram's censorship of the #eelam and #tamileelam hashtags - which refer to the traditional homeland [2], fitting for a company that has found itself - for better or for worse - the biggest platform for speech in the world? Does Facebook really need to bend to the will of a government that denies it's murder of over 100,000 minority citizens? Should Spotify be removing their music?