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The world admins have a long history of this kind of shit.
A great example was when they updated the TOS to remove specific call outs for (if memory serves) transphobic hate being against TOS and instead replacing it with very generic text. The response being that they didn't need that text because the generic call outs covered it.
Nobody with two brain cells was fooled and everyone knew it was about getting ahead of angry chuds who might be mean to the admins. But enough people were mysteriously banned for horrible shit (with their whole post histories being wiped) and everyone else who cared left for different instances.
I'm not going to fault admins for not wanting to get calls from the FBI. I will fault them for abandoning our friends because they don't want angry emails. But, either way, the constant need to build up weird narratives and assume everyone else is really THAT stupid is just tiresome.
or when they banned piracy at db0, citing legal threats that didn't happen, which was before defederating exploding heads, a nazi instance
That's the thing. For some reason, people will come up with this logic that's designed to fool a 4-year-old, and then just assume that all the adults who are reading it will be totally taken in by it. I don't know why. Maybe they don't want to throw some individual who ran out in front with a bad decision under the bus. Or, maybe it's just painful to say out loud, "I think we were wrong now that we've had a chance to look at it more."
Yeah, but that's why you need legal advice. They're sort of pretending that they're qualified to make determinations about what is and isn't a legal problem, which isn't always a good idea to do all on your own once you've grown beyond a certain size. Pretending that you're making these decisions from a position of knowledge and authority just compounds the problem.
The reality is that legality doesn't matter a lot unless you have enough lawyers on staff to fight various government agencies. That is WHY most creators and communities use established services like youtube or reddit because it offloads that hassle to a company that actually has the lawyers to figure out what is and isn't a risk.
Whereas a lemmy instance is a few people who have no idea what they are doing.
The best metaphor I have heard to explain this is: A group of weirdos start singing prayers while you are boarding a plane. The flight attendant tells you that you need to sing along or you will be kicked off the plane. You say that is nonsense. They say they are going to have you escorted off the plane if you continue to be disruptive.
You KNOW you are within your legal rights to not do that bullshit. But you don't have a lawyer with you. Best case scenario? You get off the plane, you get an apology handy from a CSR, and you get to get on a different plane in 12 hours. But now you have missed your connecting flight and 1-2 days of your trip. So you are wasting personal days or pissing off your boss and missing an important client meeting and blah blah blah. And... the browner you are, the less likely you are to see that CSR after the cops escort you off a plane.
So... you just sing along because it is easier. Even if you know it is bullshit, you know it is "close enough" that your life will become a living hell.
Which is why I have no issue with a site policy of "We don't want that smoke. Please don't make jokes about the guy who killed a piece of shit CEO until we know we won't get investigated by law enforcement". But I DO have issues with making up weird narratives to justify it.
Prayer day in kenshi