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‘Harmful’ content should not be promoted via social media algorithms, peers say
(www.nationalworld.com)
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this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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If a thing is harmful to any person, it's harmful. Pretty simple.
People say what you just said when they're trying to justify harming other (usually marginalized) groups. Stopping another person or group from being harmed does not equal harm against you.
Edit: I understand it's not that black and white. It's not always the case, just pointing out that many people do use that argument in bad faith.
So do you think content including alcohol should be banned? It could be argued that it harms those who struggle with alcoholism but doesn't effect those who don't. At the same time, I think all of the "non-alcoholic alcohol" that I keep seeing on YouTube is just silly.
Every topic could be considered "harmful" to someone, somewhere on this planet.
Like someone else mentioned, content involving alcohol could be harmful to alcoholics. Content involving drugs could be harmful to addicts. Content discussing SA/Rape could be harmful to survivors.
Discussions on controversial topics will always be harmful to someone. Just a few posts up from this one was a discussion about Quran burning. That's harmful to devout and fundamentalist muslims, should that be banned?
Then let's not even get into the subject of humour. What one person considers banter could be considered harmful by another. Ironic communities suddenly become harmful as soon as the irony is lost on a single person (RIP 2balkan4u).
Harmful means something different to everyone. Trying to apply a blanket definition to it will just stifle all discussion, or turn your community into a pure hugbox.
I just had to look up that Balkan4u incident, I must have been out of the loop.
Wow. Reddit admins are a dumpster fire.
We can start by distinguishing between harmful and offensive.
we previously had the examples like “your right to swing your arms stops at my face” or “can’t yell FIRE in a crowded theater” where words or actions were prohibited because they directly harm others
burning the Bible/Torah/Quran/flag is offensive, NOT harmful. The relevant group you’re trying to piss off has a right to be pissed off, and you’re not immune from the consequences of your words, but no actual harm
spreading falsehoods about vaccination leading to people avoiding vaccination causes actual disease and death. You’re indirectly harming others
So you can make the argument that we’re just making the same type of limits that we always had but adjusted for modern realities.