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[JoshuaFH]

Germany and France have warned Trump not to taske Greenland by force. France's words are backed by nuclear weapons. Germany's words are backed by France.

So how should I start preparing for the inevitable nuclear war that destroys humanity? Cause America is a train that is going full throttle towards mutual annihilation, and nobody is even interested in hitting the brakes. Atleast we've found out what the Great Filter is, yay.

[martinuzz]

So how should I start preparing for the inevitable nuclear war that destroys humanity?

Hoard massive amounts of popcorn. It is one of the first things that will run out.

[Jopax]

All these outlandish claims feel like someone gave him the idea of leaving a legacy of expanding US territory. So he'll be remembered as the president that got Greenland or Canada or whatever and not the shitshow of lawsuits, criminal charges and overall incompetence.

[Great Order]

I do wonder how actually into it the rest of the Republican party are. If he actually stages an invasion of Canada, for example, will they immediately try to oust him or run along with it?

I feel they would have last time he was president, but it definitely feels like the crazies have the floor this time, so I'm not so sure now. Although invading Canada would be suicidal, not because the Canadians could win but just an insurgency right on your doorstep with a massive border that's damn near impossible to control due to its sheer size? You're asking for a Canadian partisan movement to start bombing American cities.

Guy's a nutter and idiot. I've no idea if his threats are genuine, but they're definitely not doing the Western world any favours. Europe's 100% going to need to assume that America's in the thrall of morons for a long while now and work on increasing the resilience of its own supply chains and military. Whether or not we will is a different matter.

[Loud Whispers]

All these outlandish claims feel like someone gave him the idea of leaving a legacy of expanding US territory. So he'll be remembered as the president that got Greenland or Canada or whatever and not the shitshow of lawsuits, criminal charges and overall incompetence.

Trump's master plan is to annex Canada, Mexico and Greenland into one great north american state. The Canadia-USA-Mexico-Greenland state, or CUMland for short

[martinuzz]

Facebook did not pause to research consequences. They immediatly instated their new rules for the EU as well.
It is now allowed on Facebook to call women 'household article', to call gays 'mentally ill', and to call white people 'superior'.

I dunno man. I think at least two of those statements are punishable under criminal law in quite a few EU countries. Facebook can want new rules all they want, but I think they are going to be in a lot of legal pain for this.

EDIT: I wonder what would be more effective. Sueing Facebook for criminal offenses, or just starting a public campaign in the EU to convince people to delete their Facebook (and Instagram) accounts en masse.

EDIT: Heh, it seems we don't need a public campaign for that. I am hearing friends and family left and right saying that they have closed down their Facebook accounts today.
Mark Zuckerberg might have just killed Meta, or at least the European income of it.

[EuchreJack]

Although invading Canada would be suicidal, not because the Canadians could win...

...oh, I wouldn't count out the Canadians.  They were the part of the British Commonwealth that won the land war in World War II for the British Empire.

[Grim Portent]

Facebook did not pause to research consequences. They immediatly instated their new rules for the EU as well.
It is now allowed on Facebook to call women 'household article', to call gays 'mentally ill', and to call white people 'superior'.

I dunno man. I think at least two of those statements are punishable under criminal law in quite a few EU countries. Facebook can want new rules all they want, but I think they are going to be in a lot of legal pain for this.

EDIT: I wonder what would be more effective. Sueing Facebook for criminal offenses, or just starting a public campaign in the EU to convince people to delete their Facebook (and Instagram) accounts en masse.

EDIT: Heh, it seems we don't need a public campaign for that. I am hearing friends and family left and right saying that they have closed down their Facebook accounts today.
Mark Zuckerberg might have just killed Meta, or at least the European income of it.

I really don't get why social media networks seem to think moderation is a bad thing these days. After the shitty algorithm the next biggest problem with Facebook, and by extension Meta, is a lack of moderation of bigoted content driving away minority communities to places they can self moderate like Discord or Mastodon, not some sort of overreach of censorship.

This will just hasten the decline Meta is already experiencing, as it degenerates in the same way as Twitter has.

[ChairmanPoo]

I think both Zuckeberg and Bezos are acting more out of fear than the thought of profit. Ie: Trump might not be able to persecute them personally (as Putin would) but he could hurt their business and projects.

It's kind of more understandable in Bezos because newspapers were a side gig all along. With Zuckeberg its harder to tell because social media is his whole thing. Maybe he thinks he can keep Euro meta as a separate matter. Or maybe he thinks there will be little loss of users and revenue either way (he might be right)

[EuchreJack]

Part of it is US Law, although that may be changing (and not in a good way).
Typically, an internet company that does nothing can not be held liable for anything.

It is only when the internet company takes on the role of moderation that they take on any sort of liability.

...
It's the same reason that US Automakers are unlikely to actually create cars that can drive themselves with people onboard.
So long as the driver is operating the vehicle, the driver can be held liable for a large portion of accidents.
Once the car drives itself, the Auto Manufacturer is liable for a large proportion of accidents that they might have otherwise avoided liability.

Doing nothing is often cheaper and more profitable than doing anything.

...
And this is relevant to Europe because Europeans can likely sue in the United States, where the laws and courts are more favorable for liability claims.

[Strongpoint]

I feel they would have last time he was president, but it definitely feels like the crazies have the floor this time, so I'm not so sure now. Although invading Canada would be suicidal, not because the Canadians could win but just an insurgency right on your doorstep with a massive border that's damn near impossible to control due to its sheer size? You're asking for a Canadian partisan movement to start bombing American cities.

Thing is... The US is not Russia. Even the most fascist MAGA morons will rebel if they are forced to fight in an actual war. To wage blatant wars of aggression you need a very compliant population. And this is if we ignore the fact that Trump is not the emperor of USA to declare wars as he pleases

[Great Order]

From what I understand, which granted is all second-hand knowledge from a bunch of online randoms and so not terribly trustworthy, the president can basically wage war for 60 days (30 official, plus 30 as a sort of "Time to come up with an explanation for the rest of the government") before any other elected officials can intervene. Legally, leastways.

Granted it requires a compliant population, but I can't see systemic, violent civil disorder, which is what would probably be required. Trump would either ignore the protests or try his damndest to get them shot/arrested (Which I can see failing miserably), and violent actions wold probably be more sporadic than organised. After all, the US isn't going to be the one running an insurgency after losing an invasion. Unless the US military is hilariously outgunned because its capacities have been subject to the world's most successful psyop.

[JoshuaFH]

Trump doesn't have any kind of boogeyman to whip the masses into a war hungry frenzy. No terrorists, no communism, no Hitler, nothing. If anything, if he orders an attack on a friendly (WHITE) country, I could see large portions of the military either defecting or going AWOL. Having the most well-funded military in the world doesn't mean shit if your soldiers aren't willing to fight.

Though I might be putting too much faith in military to resist unjust orders.

[lemon10]

I think both Zuckeberg and Bezos are acting more out of fear than the thought of profit. Ie: Trump might not be able to persecute them personally (as Putin would) but he could hurt their business and projects.

It's kind of more understandable in Bezos because newspapers were a side gig all along. With Zuckeberg its harder to tell because social media is his whole thing. Maybe he thinks he can keep Euro meta as a separate matter. Or maybe he thinks there will be little loss of users and revenue either way (he might be right)

Yeah. When a fascist as petty as trump comes into power as a company you really don't want to get on his bad side, and being on his good side can have some pretty huge benefits too. Maybe it won't matter, but... that isn't the safest bet to take.
What he's doing here is conceding and kissing the ring.

If he needs to backtrack for legal reasons I'm sure he will, but he probably won't lose that many people in the end, twitter has shown that social networks can take a hell of a lot of a beating.
https://about.fb.com/news/2025/01/meta-more-speech-fewer-mistakes/

Starting in the US, we are ending our third party fact-checking program and moving to a Community Notes model.
...
We are now changing this approach. We will end the current third party fact checking program in the United States and instead begin moving to a Community Notes program.

I could be missing some other announcement, but it sounds like he's only doing this in the US; which since he's only doing this to pander to Trump makes sense.

[wobbly]

Not sure why people are assuming this decision is about Trump. Officially the decision happened after the election but it's been in the pipework for a while now. I remember reading about it in the news, previously. Would have to do some searching to find the actual date though.