I’m not sure how this can be a free speech issue being that these are private companies. Just like a bakery should not have to bake a cake for a gay couple. I myself refuse to have anything to do with Facebook.
“I’m not sure how this can be a free speech issue being that these are private companies. Just like a bakery should not have to bake a cake for a gay couple. I myself refuse to have anything to do with Facebook.”
Exactly.
Websites that are not owned by the government are not controlled by the government.
I agree. The internet companies are stupid but within their rights.
In the bakery case, you can go to another bakery, there are many of them in driving distance and many will gladly bake a flaming gay wedding cake.
For communicating on the internet, there are only a few companies that own ALL of the social media services. These service are the primary way that humans communicate now. Censoring people based on their political views locks people out from contacting groups of people on either side of the fence.
This is exactly like if 20 years ago, Ma Bell cut off your phone service because you are a republican! One can argue back then that there were plenty of pay phones around.
The ‘private company’ thing does not apply, they are a public company that sells stock - not a mom and pop bakery.
I think the case will turn on if the companies are considered to be public because of the amount of users.
If private - then the majority will side with the companies.
I believe this has more to do with YouTube and Twitter which have a growing number of conservative and libertarian voices gaining huge followings such as Sargon of Akkad, Jordan Peterson, Stephen Crowder, Stefan Molyneux and Laura Southern. Recently Molyneux and Southern’s Australia Tour drove the Libtards Down Under absolutely apoplectic. A must watch for Freepers if you haven’t already. The dinosaur media are panicking over losing the narrative to the younger crowd and the Googles of the world are trying their best to deplatform them at every turn.
Don't cheat yourself. I have found countless long lost friends & family that I never would've heard from again. That is a priceless gift. And it's all free!
I remember when if you heard from an old friend it was probably to con you into Amway.
Instead, what if the bakery offered floor space to people to set up their own shops, using the bakery's ovens, refrigerators, storage space, and customer lists?
Then, after you set up your successful business, the bakery decides to evict you because they don't like what you're putting on your cakes?
That's more like the Facebook model, according to their prospectus (see my earlier post). Facebook is offering a generic storefront to people and access to Facebook's customer base. Once people establish a successful storefront on Facebook, Facebook is evicting them based on their product content.
-PJ
“I’m not sure how this can be a free speech issue being that these are private companies. Just like a bakery should not have to bake a cake for a gay couple.
I myself refuse to have anything to do with Facebook.”
You sound like my wife, her siblings, our adult children, adult nephews/nieces and this old man.
We don’t use Facebook nor do business with anyone who insults our country or religion.
So we don’t need any local to state to National politicians “helping” us.
I’m not sure how this can be a free speech issue being that these are private companies.
—
There’s got to be something more than that.
The TV networks are private companies, too. Should they be allowed to simply omit whatever news doesn’t suit their leftist agenda, or misreport facts? You could say “well, we don’t have to watch them” - and that’s true, but I think there’s also an issue of acting for the greater good here. They’re a major information delivery system and that should come with SOME responsibility for fairness - either that or force themselves to identify themselves as the democrat propaganda machines that they are.
I am always disturbed when people conflate issues. The people on Facebook and Twitter are not asking either company to provide them with any special service. They are asking them to refrain from interfering with their willingness to post on a platform who’s stated intent is to data-mine their users information.
In each of the cake cases, the issue was not would the bakery sell products to gay couples. All of the bakers (except Muslim bakery’s that weren’t sued) had either sold or agreed to sell products to gays. It was a question if the bakery should be forced provide special services involving using the baker’s talent to create a product that presented a statement in violation of the baker’s religious beliefs.
The contrast is clear and last time I checked, liberalism was a mental disease, not an accepted religion, yet.
“I’m not sure how this can be a free speech issue being that these are private companies.”
No they aren’t. They trade on the exchange so that makes them public companies. Best thing t ht could happen is both companies are removed from the exchange. Then if they want to operate as a private company, have at it.
Bandwidth in the communications spectrum is not private - it is public.
“The petitioners also faulted arguments made by MNN that the Second Circuit’s ruling could be extended to put Facebook, Twitter, and public radio stations under same type of First Amendment considerations. “If this case ever does prompt a subsequent court of appeals to reach the sort of fanciful results that petitioners and their amici fear—such as deeming Twitter, NPR, or an Internet service provider a state actor—the Court can grant review then. These fairy-tale monsters are no reason for review here,” Hughes said.”
“Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram are all popular social media venues used for sharing political opinion. And, though they are all privately owned and operated, they are subject to numerous federal and state laws, exist because the government created the Internet, and are utilized by all levels of government. But applying the traditional state actor analysis should still lead to the conclusion that these entities and their employees are not state actors. See, e.g., Prager Univ. v. Google LLC....(dismissing First Amendment claims against YouTube and Google); Shulman v. Facebook.com...(Facebook not constitutional state actor). Under the new test announced by the Majority, it is not so clear that these entities are divorced from state action.”
There is legal precedent for private companies / property who take certain actions to be considered a “public forum”. In this day an age, Google, Facebook, Twitter and YoUTube have all taken the actions for which they should be considered a modern day “town square”.
The problem right now is Facebook and Twitter each have like 99% of their respective markets so they are de facto monopolies. Facebook and Twitter are business platforms as well and used to drive sales traffic for web businesses. So this is a real conundrum being if you can’t operate on these two platfroms because the owners decide they don’t like your politics it causes a real constitutional problem. Imagine if you will TV networks deciding they will no longer allow republican campaign adds because the Republicans support Kavahaugh and Trump. This is what is happening on Facebook and Twitter.
Maybe they can be labeled as Political PACS....what the Hell - Roberts relabeled an illegal penalty as a tax...
I disagree, on the grounds that Alphabet has a virtual monopoly on social media. That’s what anti-trust laws are for. Either the company maintains its monopoly but is forced to allow all content, or it gets broken up. If Jack Phillips controlled every bakery in America, I’d want him to make the same decision. But he doesn’t, luckily. When you have a monopoly on something and then turn around and deny it to certain people, it’s no different than the government denying citizens their rights.
“I’m not sure how this can be a free speech issue being that these are private companies.”
So, lunch counters can refuse to serve blacks?
See my post #93
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3697511/posts?page=93#93
They are operating as a PAC- FB and twitter and Google Alphabet