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'We're Fed Up With It': Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed At Curtailing Social Media Companies
wessexfm.com ^ | 5/29/2020

Posted on 05/28/2020 1:42:16 PM PDT by Helicondelta

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To: TangledUpInBlue

I think it’s a platform vs publisher issue, in that conservative voices are silenced while liberal ones aren’t. Clear bias with that.


101 posted on 05/28/2020 6:59:36 PM PDT by wastedyears (The left would kill every single one of us and our families if they knew they could get away with it)
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To: Helicondelta

My only question reading the executive order is why did President Trump not make a primetime address to the nation to read this, to bypass the media interpretation of it, to bring this directly to the people? He has a sober traditional bully pulpit if he wanted to use it, I do not understand why he does not.


102 posted on 05/28/2020 7:11:57 PM PDT by Reno89519 (Buy American, Hire American! End All Worker Visa Programs. Replace Visa Workers w/ American Workers)
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To: Liz

I’m not sure about what going with these companies they are certainly making money. They are also doing some form of broadcasting over public airways by satellite like radio and TV and what happens on those frequencies are very strictly regulated by the FCC ask any ham radio operator or commercial Radio or TV station.If they are are using those frequencies to influence/favor certain political parties and harm others this could be very interesting.


103 posted on 05/28/2020 8:09:53 PM PDT by mississippi red-neck ( Never apologize or give in to a lynch mob, it always leads to a hanging.)
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To: semimojo; poconopundit

Yep, the president better be careful with this issue...a lot of “non-abusing/non-censoring” sites may be caught up and declared “publishers” and incur liability for libel & slander, etc.. Sites like FR and the new “LBRY” YouTube alternative.

“LBRY” blockchain YouTube alternative: https://lbry.com

The presidents’ EO (pretty “general”/editorial in nature): https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-preventing-online-censorship/

“Platform vs. Publisher” issue info.:
https://www.do-op.com/2018/12/13/social-media-platforms-publishers/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/social-media-platforms-or-publishers-rethinking-section-230/

https://www.city-journal.org/html/platform-or-publisher-15888.html


104 posted on 05/28/2020 8:22:38 PM PDT by Drago
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To: P-Marlowe; napscoordinator

I was telling my son last night, you’re either a platform (like ATT) or you’re a publisher.

Will we object if att starts censoring our texts and conversations? Damn straight we will.


105 posted on 05/29/2020 4:13:53 AM PDT by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Support our troops by praying for their victory.)
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To: for-q-clinton

I did. Yes. It’s my understanding the statue actually needs to be changed.


106 posted on 05/29/2020 6:57:51 AM PDT by hawkaw
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To: hawkaw

Why?

What part of the statute allows them to be an editor/publisher?

By that logic, NY Times ONLINE can let people publish editorials accusing you of raping children and they can’t be held liable.


107 posted on 05/29/2020 7:35:54 AM PDT by for-q-clinton
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To: poconopundit
I feel strongly both ways.

people have to be able to criticize the government. full stop.

OTOH neither journalism not twitterism can be a title of nobility or an established priesthood which can criticize but be essentially immune from response.

Seems like Twitter, as a platform but not a forum exclusively for its own opinions, enabled Trump to become POTUS.

In the sense that it is explicitly conservative and enforces that via its moderators, FR is not a “platform.”

But in the

O’Sullivan’s First Law


An eternal truth.
By John O’Sullivan

EDITOR’S NOTE: This appeared in the October 27, 1989, issue of National Review.
Robert Michels — as any reader of James Burnham's finest book, The Machiavellians, knows was the author of the Iron Law of Oligarchy. This states that in any organization the permanent officials will gradually obtain such influence that its day-to-day program will increasingly reflect their interests rather than its own stated philosophy. To take a homely example, congressmen from egalitarian parties somehow end up voting for higher pay and generous expenses for congressmen. We can also catch an ironic echo of Michels's law in Stalin's title of General Secretary, as well as in the fact that powerful mandarins in the British government creep about under such deceptive pseudonyms as "Permanent Under-Secretary.” . . .
All of which is by way of introducing a new law of my own . . .
O'Sullivan's First Law: All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.
I cite as supporting evidence the ACLU, the Ford Foundation, and the Episcopal Church. The reason is, of course, that people who staff such bodies tend to be the sort who don't like private profit, business, making money, the current organization of society, and, by extension, the Western world. At which point Michels's Iron Law of Oligarchy takes over — and the rest follows.
sense, there cannot actually be a “pure platform” devoid of politics. Left wing politics will always intrude in any “neutral” platform.
108 posted on 05/29/2020 10:50:55 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
I agree, there is a natural tendency for organizations to become more corrupt, and more "tax Paul to pay Peter".

A little corruption begets more corruption as Basiat explained in his essay, The Law (download my edited and abridged version in Word format here).

The Constitution is merely the skeleton of The Law. To supply the vital organs and sinews requires the people living at any point in history to actually LIVE those principles and defend them.

We're now at a crucial point in history where the freedom-giving principles of the Law are gaining power. And the forces that would corrupt the Law are temporarily in retreat (though marshalling their forces to make a comeback).

In the most recent weeks we've seen some very exciting things happening! Don't you think?

The exposure of Obamagate, the regulation of Twitter, the rise in power of conservative social media voices, and our new press secretary (Kayleigh "Shillelagh" McEnany) clubbing the Fake News reporters day-after-day with her Book of Facts.

This is an exciting time to be an American patriot. When the Sun pushes the clouds apart, I look up and see John Adams, George Washington, and Thomas Paine grinning down and giving Trump the thumbs up sign!

109 posted on 05/29/2020 12:56:31 PM PDT by poconopundit (Joe Biden has long been the Senate's court jester. He's 24/7 malarkey and more corrupt than Hunter.)
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To: TangledUpInBlue

Presently, social media platforms are protected from liability on the condition that they are simply platforms for others and exert no editorial control over content. They have quickly lost that special protection and the executive order starts with that. It changes a lot.


110 posted on 05/29/2020 4:15:35 PM PDT by Ikemeister
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To: Antoninus

bingo!


111 posted on 05/29/2020 4:18:44 PM PDT by Ikemeister
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To: Helicondelta

Talks talk. Walks walk. Vote for again.


112 posted on 05/30/2020 3:06:30 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 ("SHUT UP!" he explained.)
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To: TangledUpInBlue

You are partly correct in that it is a private platform (Twitter, I mean) with its own set of rules. Users agree to abide by those rules, but platform providers must conspicuously post those policies and apply them uniformly to comply with Sec 230. Clearly, Twitter surrenders its Sec 230 status by cherry-picking which tweets it edits and which it doesn’t, and offers no clarifying data on how its terms of service have been violated by users it censors. Being a private company does not exempt private companies from discrimination. There’s a word the lefties love to use, and Trump essentially is using it as an object lesson against them


113 posted on 06/01/2020 1:44:38 PM PDT by confederatecarpetbag
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To: semimojo

[No more deleted posts and no more zots.]


I don’t actually have a problem with that. The problem we have today is that Free Republic is one of the few outlets we have for expressing views that would be zotted on other forums. The real problem is that this might actually increase the dominance of the major liberal platforms, as right-wing commenters are suddenly able to air their views to the biggest audience. I expect Breitbart’s prominence has done a number on Free Republic’s Alexa ranking. Opening up Twitter and Facebook would further sink that ranking. As a shareholder in both, I’m actually a big fan of the removal of censorship. I think it would increase both platform traffic and ad revenues.


114 posted on 06/01/2020 6:37:45 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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