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Ask HN: Why are Americans on this site acting in an anti-free speech way?

by cruzcampo on 5/1/25, 9:03 AM with 22 comments

Dear HN community,

it has long been my impression that people here in particular (as well as Americans in general!) consider free speech one of the most important values and themselves as upholders of that value - think of Musk buying Twitter and calling himself a "free speech absolutist", a move that was widely applauded in this community.

Yet, I have noticed that many of my comments and submissions get censored by people abusing the flagging functionality to shut down political views they don't agree with or issues that - while clearly tech related - don't fit in with their ideological agenda. This tends to happen right around the time Americans start waking up.

How does this fit in with this vision of free speech being such a high value? Is this a forum where free speech is practiced and valued? If so, are there any plans to reign in this obvious political censorship?

Here's some recent examples:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43793875

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43728870

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43810880

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43845934

  • by Cordiali on 5/1/25, 9:27 AM

    The site's guidelines are pretty clear, that it's generally regarded as off-topic.

  • by sim7c00 on 5/1/25, 9:52 AM

    free or not free is only an illusion. its a personal thing in the end which no one can give or take. hence, you will find disagreement on what behavior fits what banner of freedom or nonfreedom etc.

    people will try to silence voices that disagree with them. cant they? no. will they try? yes.

    dont worry about it and simply say what u have to say, trusting the universe it will arrive where it needs to, when it needs to.

  • by watwut on 5/1/25, 9:25 AM

    Musk bought twitter so that he can suppress left leaning voices and promote far right voices. And delivered. It had nothing to do with free speech and I doubt anyone is making that claim in good faith.

  • by beAbU on 5/2/25, 7:13 AM

    It's really simple in my opinion.

    Many people (not just Americans) regard the term "freedom of speech" to mean the following:

    1. I am free to say what I want, when I want to, to whomever I want to say it. My speech deserve to be amplified.

    2. Others are free to do the same, as long as what they say align with my political/religious/whatever belief system. Their speech deserve to be amplified as well.

    3. I am also free to block or limit the speech of those that say things that do not align with my political/religious/whatever belief system.

    4. Those that apply #3 to me are infringing on my rights to freedom of speech.

    Note the contradiction! Many people are perfectly happy living with this contradiction, because it's an "us vs. them" situation, and "they" are obviously wrong and "we" are obviously right. See social theories about tribalism, social circles, religions etc.

    IMO, the only thing that "freedom of speech" grants is the right to criticise your government without fear of prosecution. You are very much not free to say whatever you want, as this can cause harm to others (see: hate speech).

    Lastly, if there is a downvote/flag/report/whatever button on any piece of speech on the internet, people are going to press it. No matter what. Even "real" freedom of speech absolutists. Not just Americans, EVERYONE will press it that disagrees. This is a very very very basic human reaction, and you have to really work hard to not fall in this trap.

  • by tim333 on 5/1/25, 8:06 PM

    As a general point I'm not American and am interested in tech and startups and science and the like. Any forum if you don't moderate it tends to turn from that to US politics - Trump this - dems that and I think people try to keep that off HN. You can always discuss that stuff at a load of other places, probably 90% of the web these days.

    Your links feature Trump, Trump, Trump and "Democrats are basically controlled opposition..."

    HN isn't the place really.

  • by rsynnott on 5/1/25, 9:35 AM

    > think of Musk buying Twitter and calling himself a "free speech absolutist"

    ... I mean, that was just a lie. You should be very cautious of taking anything he says at face value.