Fahrenheit 404. I like it.
“Are these companies entitled to be able to shut up dissenters? Of course, they are. The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees protection from the state, but not from individuals and companies. Freedom of speech is freedom from persecution by the state and no more. “
They’re riding on an internet that was paid for by the tax payers. How about some royalties?
I think the rules change and you assume liability when you begin to control the content on your site.
They’re allowed to censor.
...and of course their section 320 exemption from being regulated like media companies can be pulled which would be an extreme headache for them.
....and the DOJ can bring anti-trust actions against them.
.... and courts can rule they are the equivalent of the “town square” and thus cannot ban or censor anybody like the 9th circuit ruled when the owners of a private shopping mall on private property were required to admit protestors onto their property.
I advocate all of the above be applied to Big Tech immediately.
This really is going to be an interesting debate.
Under public accommodation laws, you have to decorate a cake blessing gay marriage if you want to be open to the public, i.e., your religious views aren’t allowed. Facebook, Tumblr, et. al., are arguably open to the public. Are we now going to create another hair-splitter that its absolutely OK to refuse service based on political views, but not on anything else? Or is it political views, and Christian beliefs? Can I refuse to decorate the cake, and say it was because the customer was a democrat?
Maybe this is why Obama was so keen on handing over control of the internet . . .
And I hope it results in a 93% decrease in ad revenue FakeBook too!
They could pave the way to ban you from their electrical wires with logic like that.
“Freedom of speech is freedom from persecution by the state and no more. “
On the other hand: “To secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed”