from Hacker News

Petition to Remove the Canadian Government from Twitter

by oalders on 2/20/25, 11:23 PM with 42 comments

• by 3vidence on 2/21/25, 12:18 AM

  So TikTok gets banned in the US for abstract potential influence on topics related to China and most Americans sign off on it.

  Twitter is being actively manipulated by a person who has expressed interest in the elimination of the independence of Canada and people think this is an overreaction??

• by jmclnx on 2/20/25, 11:34 PM

  Fingers crossed Canada does the right thing and dump twitter

• by nisten on 2/20/25, 11:41 PM

  Almost the entire machine learning community that publishes opensource medical datasets and models... amongst other things, is on twitter.

  This all feels more emotionally motivated than logically motivated. I.e. Instead of fighting kremlin trolls and helping fact check via community notes (which has been quite effective), they're gonna let it all get worse because they're mad at the owner.

• by drivingmenuts on 2/21/25, 1:33 AM

  Considering that X is owned and operated by an agent of a government that has threatened Canada, seems like a good reason to me. That same person actively supports Neo-Nazis in Europe, which makes it an imperative.

  Actually, at this point, most of the EU governments should probably drop Twitter.

• by adamiscool8 on 2/20/25, 11:54 PM

  >the government's continued use of X legitimises and directs traffic to a platform that no longer prioritises fact-based, accessible public communication.

  What does this mean exactly?

  There's no indication the Government of Canada's profile on X will stop showing their own messages.

  Granted, they might find themselves Community Noted, since the Canadian government (NB: any government, really) can also be prone to amplifying misinformation, conspiracy theories, and harmful rhetoric.

  But they want Canadians to believe a new community-regulated platform, prioritizing accuracy and safety - as defined by people throwing tantrums at the mere possibility of diverse perspectives - is going to be more reliable, accountable, and accessible?

  Peak performative nonsense. And I expect no less than several million signatures.

• by Acrobatic_Road on 2/20/25, 11:48 PM

  How about just "Petition to Remove the Canadian Government"?

• by JohnnyLarue on 2/20/25, 11:50 PM

  This will not happen until Twitter loses its reach. Getting the word out in an emergency is far, far more important than potentially legitimizing a white supremacist platform.