There is a general tendency on the internet that any forum that promotes free speech and only moderates spam and illegal posts, but does not remove posts based on their content, becomes majority right wing after some time. There are left-wing forums with censorship, and there are right-wing forums with censorship, of course. But if you let people discuss their ideas freely without interference, the mostly tend to become right-wing. It seems that without censorship and content-based moderation artificially steering discussion left-wing ideas cannot exist.

  • ricketson@gtio.io
    1·
    2 years ago

    Three questions for you:

    1. Why does it matter?
    2. Why do you think this happens? Is it just reflecting the population, or are there right-wing astroturfing operations that bias the content?
    3. Are you considering all forms of content promotion to censorship? 3a. For instance Daily Kos has a front page that is controlled by a group of editors – is that ‘censorship’ or just an editorial decision by a publication? (I’m not familiar with their policies on the ‘personal’ spaces, but I have never run into any trouble even when I challenge Democrat orthodoxy). 3b. What if ‘moderation’ is purely peer-to-peer? What if I decide not to view content from some users (blocking)? What if I set up my account to promote content approved/endorsed certain ‘gatekeepers’ whom I select? 3c. What if invitations to the community are based on some sort of affiliation, such as party membership? Is that still ‘censorship’?