Freedom of Speech?

Question

Earlier this week someone posted a question about the British National Party. The question got a huge response - over 140 answers. As you can expect the answers were varied but it showed that young people were and are interested in politics. Today I have noticed that Yahoo has removed the question.

Yahoo continues to do this without any explanation. The questions just disappear. Don't you feel they are making fools of us? We spend our time considering and typing our answers only for them to be deleted.

I remember last year Yahoo agreed with China to censure some web media also so they could enter the Chinese market.

How can we collectively demonstrate to Yahoo that we are unhappy with the way they delete questions without explanation. I'm really getting annoyed with them for controlling our freedom of speech in this way. Are you?

Answer 1

Probably by abiding by the rules Yahoo posts for its Answers section.

This is not a freedom of speech issue as much as it is a business issue. The question may have been reported by somebody and the poster was sent a message saying that the question violated the rules of the Answers arena.

As for the Chinese market, free speech is not free everywhere. If you want to express an opinion not in compliance with Yahoo rules, you are free to do so IN THIS COUNTRY, and you can make your own blog or web page or post to any one of hundreds of thousands of sites and not be penalized for it.

The beauty of free speech is that you can say whatever you want to, and we can disagree with you and respond back.

This is a business setting though, designed to enhance traffic and expose users to advertising, etc. The nation guarantees you a right to free speech, but businesses are not necessarily bound by this.

Have you noticed that Yahoo has done away with the Discuss option on their articles?

Answer 2

You have freedom of speech and expression. However, that is not up to Yahoo to enforce this. When you post on Yahoo, you have to abide by the terms of service you agreed to at the begining.

Remember, Yahoo can get sued for what is posted here. They are a company, not a public service. If you want to express youself without censorship, find someone or somewhere else to do this. If you have a problem with the way Yahoo act on this, remember it is them, not you, who will get sued if things that are posted here offend.

With regards the numerous questions about the BNP, there are questions that are still going. I presume that Yahoo are deleting the questions (and the answers) when the thread gets too abusive. For example, there is a question that refers to Muslims as b @ s t @ r d s and I imagine that will (quite rightly) get pulled. I would also imagine that a question that was not asked in jest, that was abusive against a group of people would be pulled. And also remember, if enough people press the forum abuse button, then the thread will come to the attention of the Yahoo moderators who will decide if the questons and answers need to be deleted.

So in summary, no Yahoo is not controlled by the government, nor is it picking on questions asked about the BNP, but rather, its actions and your freedom of expression on this site is controlled by lawyers. You still have freedom of speech on the internet, it is up to you to find or create a place where you can express that as you wish.

You can e-mail Yahoo directly (they may provide you with an explantaion if you have the url for the questions that have been deleted), but the only way I see to make a company like Yahoo change it's ways is to advocate a boycott. I do not see that working.

(By the way, I am all for freedom of speech and expression and in general, I do not like censorship)

And in my links, I am including two questions, that are nothing to do with the BNP that I suspect will be deleted for breaching the terms and conditions of this site.

Answer 3

Defending Freedom of Speech is only a good business model. The moderators at Yahoo are appalling.

Answer 4

Join the club. In our delusion, we think that there is freedom of speech here and not there. I have constantly tried to explain that our media constantly magnifies the moles on others faces to make our own look good.

The point is at the mean level ( that is to say for the ordinary citizen) the freedoms experienced in one country (regardless of political creed) is exactly the same as that in another.

This is because, governments and the ruling classes ( who between them across the political world) own the media including the so called "free" media are a paranoid entity. For instance, when Maggie wanted to silence the IRA she imposed a ban on speech and the Media (all) had to use actor (duff ones) for squeaky voices.

Another was the freezing of an army documentary film in case it inspires terrorists. Another ploy constantly used to censor the media (when they are reluctant to cooperate) is the use of the official secrets act to get a court injunction. It goes on and on.

Yahoo, we know does not bother with all that stuff. So when people parrot the "freedom of speech" rubbish , I just grin at their naivety.

Answer 5

Censorship is bad but it is everywhere...problem is they will delete something they don't agree with then their excuse is something like: "Asking how your supposed to wipe your butt with one sheet of toilet paper is not appropriate in Y/A". You can't even challenge a National News story on here. Cheryl Crowes rant was aired on "ALL" of the networks. And I can't even make a comment about it.

Answer 6

I don`t agree or disagree with you. But I do say this:

There are other chat forums/rooms on the internet, the world does not revolve around Yahoo :-)

Answer 7

I've seen a few questions disappear. I always presumed it was the poster who deleted their question.

Answer 8

its crap "we are free" "we are free" NO WE'RE NOT!