(September 14, 2021 at 10:14 am)Angrboda Wrote:(September 14, 2021 at 9:05 am)Irreligious Atheist Wrote: Sure, but when it comes down to it, there's a lot more to it than that, Brian. Social media is the new public square, and plenty of people on the left and LBGT people are being censored as well, so this would help these people as well. I'm against the part where they have to get illegal material off the site within two days though. Social media is the new town square. That's why people should be free to post what they want. The Taliban is being platformed by twitter for God's sake, while scientists and the POTUS are banned. How fucked is that? If a Christian doesn't want to make a sinful cake, go somewhere else. Why do you want to support their business anyhow? A cake shop is not the town square. There is no comparison at all.
Facebook, twitter, google ect have massive influence on US elections. You worry about Russia spending some thousands of dollars on facebook meme ads, when it's really these multi-billion dollar companies that have the biggest influence on elections.
If a baker has the privilege of following his conscience, so do the companies of facebook, twitter, et al. You thinking it would be good if we treated them as a public square does not change them into a public square. Taking the right to run their platform as they choose out of the hands of their shareholders is simply government theft. But I'm not surprised that you would advocate abrogating people's rights so that false claims of censorship from the right can be pacified. That's the same blighted logic as saying that we should audit elections because a bunch of right-wingers have been sold the bill of goods that the election was stolen. Their ignorance and belief in false claims justifies nothing.
The answer used to be if you don't like it, go to another platform. People tried that, and some of these platforms were no longer allowed to host their websites, people started getting banned from getting donations, banks won't deal with them anymore, etc. They tried it your way, and they were squashed. This is why social media is the new town square and they have a massive influence over society and elections. It is simply election interference on every level. Russia has nothing on Google. Google is God.
