Prediction: a huge class action lawsuit by influencers banned or demonetized by social networks will lead to recognizing & protecting:
- accounts as personal property
- posts as free speech
The more livelihoods depend on social influence, the likelier this becomes.
There are several legal precedents for this: 1) malls are regulated as public spaces and must protect speech and assembly rights even though they're private minnpost.com/cityscape/2015… 2) utilities (gas, water, electric) aren't allowed to cut people off even if they miss bills.
3) all kinds of laws protect consumers from landlords - from rent hikes to eviction 4) we have phone # portability between monopoly phone providers. (Telcos/cable have lots of regulation in general) 5) consumers are protected from bank defaults by gov't FDIC insurance
Taken together:
public right to assembly/speech (malls) + portability of followers/friends (telcos) + protection from eviction (utilities, landlords)
Create the beginnings of a regulatory framework for social utilities.
It bears repeating that if the de-facto means of communicating with your friends, family, colleagues, and fans (you've worked to acquire) are primarily accessible on a centralized platform, keeping you from those people effectively deprives you of #FreeSpeech.
The Supreme Court has wavered a few times on the subject, most recently favoring businesses. However, several states do offer varying levels of free speech protections in malls as de-facto town squares. ccim.com/cire-magazine/…
Yes! The issue is not the agreeableness of the idea or the messenger, but the underlying principle. Freedom of speech isn't meant to be pleasant, merely free.
"as was obvious during the Senate hearing w/Mark Zuckerberg..politicians are more interested in using than curtailing the power of these companies...platforms..will cave rather than be regulated..This is how authoritarian marriages begin..people should be very worried." @mtaibbi
If a buffoonish, sweaty, human cartoon has any kind of influence, my last concern is silencing the clown. My first is fixing whatever has could turn a shitty circus into a movement.
Who are we protecting exactly? If people are so soft-brained they can't discern crackpots from visionaries, they'll get radicalized by their blender or Starbucks cupholder.
As a society, we should err on the side of more voices, not fewer. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. For all their lunacy, fringe figures like Jones occasionally introduce valid people and ideas into the discourse. It's up to us to fish them out of the poop.
You think a shady, undemocratic, synchronized sniping will only silence those YOU disagree with? You're funny.
"Together, I know we can build a just society, where we all have the same opinion and are equally afraid to share it." - 'Intolerance We Trust' ideafaktory.com/intolerance-we…
@billmaher In the same article Senator Ron Wyden says social platforms are monopolies & he'll propose legislation to ensure they take down accounts that violate "common decency".
@billmaher Good argument by @caitoz that in a country where government and corporate financial ties are melding, corporate censorship becomes state censorship.
Girls in Afghanistan not allowed to speak publicly, but can on social media, but one was set on fire for questioning a mullah's opinion online. #FreeSpeech
Google (and other digital platforms) are working hard to avoid the inevitable: the digital public square debate. It will happen. How and when is less clear.
California creeping dangerously into government-dictated "truth" online.
CA's Attorney General would "Draft a model strategic plan for Internet-based social media platforms to use to mitigate the spread of false information through their platforms."
Funny the dopes who think they're winning are the ones handing their liberties away for some shallow political win. They get nothing, except inevitable schadenfreude, when it comes for them. It will.
Adding to my case for #freespeech on #socialmedia platforms:
If Twitter, Facebook, YouTube have any federal contracts (Google def does), they must comply w/federal laws, incl. 1st Amendment & be regulated by Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
Lee Camp congenially spreads as many crazy conspiracies as Alex Jones, BUT he's right about bans on alt news sites. Everyone should be able to speak freely. As w/MSM (also paid for political messages) critical thinking is ON US.
Bans don't enlighten the dim, they dull the bright
The UK, racing ahead of the US, by arresting people for offending others. Wow. The West is self-inflicting the collapse of liberalism.
Another great example of why consistency is impossible when your platform's content policies exist outside the bounds of free speech, in their own arbitrary, politicized, subjective, invented universe.
While it seems like Gab's content is pretty dark (aside from this overtly violent fiend), this goes to show how easily the (financial) system can cut off all oxygen to speech. Strange because Facebook & Twitter hosted this guy too. They get to live.
Again, @caitoz nails it
Remember, corporations (not businesses) are govt creations, bestowed rights like personhood, monopoly, bankruptcy, tax breaks, etc. Some dominate, partly by buying politicians/policies. That often means corporate power = state power medium.com/@caityjohnston…
@caitoz@RubinReport@jordanbpeterson Unlike the US, free speech is not typically protected across the EU. Political volatility ensures "hate speech" laws can & will fall in the wrong hands to stifle freedom. Short of inciting violence, speech is best regulated w/existing laws & social norms.
This will work unless regulated wallets/crypto exchanges get pressured by banks to disconnect controversial figures or they'll freeze their accounts, as Paypal/MasterCard allegedly did w/Patreon. With digital, there's no place to hide, including #crypto.
If this is true, it is frightening.
Access to #money, #payments & #financial#platforms cannot be dictated by private companies for any reason besides legal compliance. Especially, given rising consolidation across industries. This is a legit FTC issue.
As far as I know, the US is the only nation that protects #FreeSpeech as a right. Canada (pronouns), UK (p0rn), Australia (video games), France (words) & rest of Europe do not. While private entities can ban anything, this ominous #trend is contagious.
Wondering when the lawsuits will start. Might be a case if they prove:
- monopoly power
- unfair business practices
- collusion (among networks)
- free speech infringement (contingent on establishing monopoly power)
When success outpaces mastery, it clouds the path to full potential.
I recently saw a comedian whose career just took off. S/he has every ingredient - talent, perspective, drive & intelligence - to be great. But isn't, yet.
There were lots of funny lines & good premises, but the delivery was all one-note & too dark.
Same way horror & superhero movies need comic relief, s/he needs to modulate the dark with some light, master tonal variety & infuse intimacy & vulnerability into the storytelling.
3/5
Redistribution demands a fundamental re-calibration of education & life skills that can help you fill days in ways that *feel* meaningful & can take up a day.
But it still requires MARKETS. They provide pricing & essential value signals—even for simulated meaning.
3/4
Hardly Rosa Parks, but I guess she's performing some sort of service for somebody. For the children? Everything is always for the children...until it isn't.
I really do resent always having to be suspicious of everyone's motives - public officials, media and other institutions. I'd much rather just trust their integrity, competence and expertise. But their history warrants scrutiny. So here we are.
I lived in NYC on 9/11. My mom worked at WTC & was rescued by a guy who pulled her into a subway station as the first tower was collapsing. She was missing for 10 hours. We feared the worst. Cell towers were down. She trekked through subway tunnels to Brooklyn.
🍡
The heaviest relief came when we finally reconnected. It never came for so many.
As the smouldering stench that permeated the city for months subsided, so did their hopes.
You'll hear plenty of platitudes today. But I try to take one lesson from that experience each year...
This year, that lesson is "freedom", but not in the way you think...
The same people who created the Taliban & Al Qaeda manipulated an emotional nation into a preposterous idea: imposing our definition of freedom on others - with war.