Sat, 29 May 2021

Content Moderation Case Study: Time Warner Cable Doesn't Want Anyone To See Critical Parody (2013)
Furnished content.


Summary: In 2013, two comedians named Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler, who performed as The Good Liars, got some attention for mocking a particular popular target of mockery: poor service from your broadband provider. For Selvig and Stiefler, their target was Time Warner Cable. In late March of that year, they released a video on YouTube in which they pretended to be Time Warner Cable employees interviewing people on the street about how TWC could make its service even worse.To support the initial viral attention that the video was receiving, the two also set up a series of parody Time Warner Cable customer support accounts that would respond -- just like the real TWC customer support Twitter account -- to people complaining about their service, again asking how they could make things worse.

We're a big company and so we're not at all opposed to a good parody or satire, Bobby Amirshahi, a TWC representative, told the Daily Dot. The two crossed the line, he said, by choosing Glenn Britt, the company's CEO, as their username. The issue was posting as though it was from the CEO, i.e. impersonation, Amirshahi said. Otherwise, no action would be taken.

• Where do you draw the line regarding what is acceptable parody and unacceptable impersonation?
• Is the use of TWC's CEO enough to make it no longer acceptable?
• Should there be different rules when the parody is about a large company rather than an individual?

• Parody and satire are often important ways to speak out against the powerful. Will clamping down on parodies in this manner suppress commentary and criticism?
• Can rules against impersonation allow powerful individuals and companies to silence criticism?

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