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Coffee Shop: Does Twitter need policing?

Alternative Press - Tim Karan on 10/18/09 @ 7:00 AM - altpress.com

Last week, we brought you news that a rumor had begun making the rounds that Sum 41's Deryck Whibley had died when the frontman was still very much alive. After some super-sleuthing, we tracked down the source of the rumor: One guy with time on his hands and an experiment to conduct. Andrew Bucket decided to post that Whibley had died on Twitter to see how fast the news could spread. While no harm was done in the end, it does bring up an interesting point: Should there be a law against spreading salacious rumors on Twitter? After all, as Bucket said in our interview with him, "You can't fake your own death, but you can fake someone else's death."

Note: Try to keep it friendly, everyone! Posts that are threatening or obscene will be deleted.

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fireboy129 Posted 10.18.09 at 08:21AM
I don't think so. If you start policing Twitter, people won't be able to feel like they have the freedom to say what they want anymore. There's going to be people like this, but Twitter as a whole shouldn't be policed. Accounts that have had a history of suspicious activity? Possibly. But not the whole site.

AbrillMacbeth Posted 10.18.09 at 03:30PM
Twitter doesn't need policing. It just needs to be stopped.

thechetearly Posted 10.18.09 at 06:43PM
If people don't fake something on TWITTER they're just gonna do it somewhere else. And it is hard enough to crack down on illegal music downloading...imagine trying to crack down on false tweets!!! lol

ohheykristyna Posted 10.18.09 at 06:45PM
No, the rumors on twitter are like a tabloid. You can't stop it. It just happens.

wishedonalush Posted 10.18.09 at 06:56PM
yes and no. there's no way you can ACTUALLY monitor it, but I think if it causes detrimental harm to someone or their life, then yeah. Something should be done. However, if you made it illegal you'd be arresting half of... well, the world. and that's juts stupid.

oneeyedjack2190 Posted 10.18.09 at 07:06PM
No because twitter is not a legitimate resource. Whatever someone posts, whether it is true or false, is totally up to the person who reads it to decide if it is true or untrue.

musicoverdeath Posted 10.19.09 at 07:49PM
I hate twitter, but I also believe people have the right to free speech. I agree with oneeyedjack2190...you need to discern between news sources you can trust and that which you cannot. I would say twitter ranks very low on the legitimate news source.



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