This is stated in absolute terms: “they do not have an unconstrained right to suppress the speech of others”
It is in fact an opinion. This is the type of thing that misleads people, because the law today is the exact opposite of this opinion. Phrased as a statement of fact, it’s either deliberately misleading or deeply ignorant.
“the author is including that line in a section of “some arguments people might make in favor of government regulation of social media companies”, but says repeatedly that, in their opinion, those arguments are incorrect.”
….and this gives the missing context, thank you. You can have your own opinions, but not your own facts.
In my opinion, there’s a clear difference between verizon/sprint/at&t cell phone service vs twitter/instagram/FB/collegeconfidential. One group makes money off infrastructure services, the other group makes money off community engagement.
To bring us back on topic, Elon Musk promised to make twitter like verizon but has basically turned it into Truth Social / Parler.
While I would certainly prefer this to be the case, differences in business model don’t necessarily equate to differences in legal status. The primary justification for editorial privileges is that newspapers have limited space so must choose what to include. If you read the Fifth Circuit opinion, its rationale leans heavily on large social media companies not being subject to meaningful space constraints:
No, and yes. No, as the First Amendment applies to the Federal Government and by virtue of the 14th Amendment, also to the State Governments. And, yes, a private company they can suppress as much speech as they want, as long as they don’t discriminate against protected classes. such as suppressing speech based on race or sex.
This whole issue is whether the Federal Government pressured a private company to suppress speech.
Yes, lying to Congress is no bueno. But unless one is under oath, not sure it’s a crime. (too disinterested to look it up). But if I’m a far left progressive, and I view anything that is negative towards say, covid vaccines as disinformation, I’m performing a public good by censoring it. (And therefore I’m truthful to Congress bcos I’m not censoring conservatives per se, I’m censoring disinformation.)
That is I think part of the issue. They censored Harvard drs who were apparently posting factual data by the CDC. Will be interesting how it plays out. If anything maybe this opens up the role these big social media companies play in elections and other important things. And to full circle this back to the topic here, Musk- I’m glad this opened up that can of worms.
You mean like how Twitter actually changed its written rules to accommodate Trump when Trump was in clear violation of those rules, so that it wouldn’t have to suspend Trump’s account?
I wonder why that didn’t make the Twitter files?
The outrage brokers will push false outrage and mischaracterize what happen, but nothing will come of it because Twitter did not violate the law in getting rid of false and misleading information.
So you post a link from Fox News without comment, then shortly thereafter link to MSNBC with a snarky comment, because MSNBC is biased?
I don’t rely on either MSNBC or Fox News for my news, but I can tell you that Musk has suspended a number of accounts of those on the left, because I have seen it in action.
So I see he suspended and then quickly reinstated several left journalist due to them giving out his location. Thats a safety issue for sure. He is foolish to reinstate him, just as he would be foolish to reinstate trump. Hate speech and putting someones life at risk should be a ban from any social media platform. period.
Except that is not what happened. They didn’t give out any information. They merely reported on his suspending people for giving out information that was already publicly available. And he has suspended but not reinstated others. See Chad Loder for example.
But you’ve revealed your perspective on this so there is no use going further. Fox News good. MSNBC bad. Musk good. Critics and reporters bad.
And right back at you…you reveal yours in every post you make :). Can you show me where exactly I said the words “fox is good”? Oh thats right you can’t. Stop putting words in peoples mouths.
