As for my late response to the OP:
Verv wrote:What does this mean for free speech on social networks?
It's free if you are a globalist. If you're an American, it's free if you are a Democrat or a neoliberal/neoconservative.
colliric wrote:Ben Shapiro didn't get banhammered did he? Despite saying pretty much 95% of the exact same shit because he's a neocon stooge.
That's pretty much it. It's also pretty obvious to people nowadays. Neocon masters have realized how damaged their brand is and pulled the plug on The Weekly Standard. They are investing in a new generation.
Drlee wrote:Your mistake lies in the assumption that these changes are harmful to the bottom line.
I pointed out this problem over a year ago with respect to YouTube. They recently missed numbers, and it was directly attributable to decreased traction on YouTube. The material changes in the last year have been algorithm changes to throttle conservative content, demonetizing conservatives, and outright banning people they don't agree with politically. This even included PragerU.
Drlee wrote:Facebook is trying to get out in front of a problem that could severely damage the company.
Facebook originally had funding from the CIA via In-Q-Tel. That should give you a little more insight into who they really respond to. My guess is that Trump hasn't dug that deep yet, and the deep state is doing their level best to prevent Trump from mucking around with CIA front companies.
Drlee wrote:The see it as doing exactly what you say...maximizing shareholder value.
Facebook has hemorrhaged users over the last year too. As I've said before, the deep state launched social media in an effort to learn more about decentralized enemy networks like Al Qaeda. They did not expect that groups like ISIS would evolve and out innovate them.
Drlee wrote:Louis Farrakhan and Alex Jones are easy targets. Their pronouncements are so outrageous that defending in court the decision to turn them off would not challenge a first year law student.
Banning Farrakhan was an effort to appear balanced. However, banning both of them suggests that they are not a utility, but rather a publisher. If they are taking responsibility for content, then they need to be regulated. They are taking responsibility not because they want to be regulated, but due to pressure from the deep state that cannot believe people preferred Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in spite of massive propaganda to support Clinton.
Drlee wrote:And this is the problem with the Republican strategy that is coming home to roost. They have relied on these outrageous outliers to carry water for them by uniting the idiot fringe and turning them into a voting block.
It's hardly a Republican strategy. The establishment hates people like Alex Jones. The Republicans are trying to destroy them as a voting bloc, because they ended up getting Trump elected.
Drlee wrote:Alex Jones relies on social media for all of his fame. Without these platforms he is going to take a serious financial hit. Where will he go for an audience?
He has his own site. YouTube just allows him to propagate more effectively. Sites like minds.com, gab, etc. are taking up the mantle. As they do, others are attacking those platforms, too. Gab had to reregister their domain name and change server providers for example. It's a coordinated attack.
Drlee wrote:Do a google search and see how frequently the facebook page of a company outranks the company page itself. It is really quite remarkable.
Search engines sell plug-ins which effect rankings that way. I don't use Google much. I'm a DuckDuckGo.com user. Google tracks everything you search and makes a history of it.
Drlee wrote:Short of declaring these entities public utilities through an almost unthinkable act of judicial activism the courts must conclude that they do not have a dog in the fight.
The companies themselves claim to be public utilities for the legal liability protection that they are not publishers of the content themselves. So by trying to quash certain publishers of content based on their political views, they are illustrating that they can be held liable for content on their networks. It's one thing for the courts to impose it. It's another thing to claim to be a utility and then do everything in your power to act like you are not. You either have liability or you don't. That will get challenged in the courts.
maz wrote:I'm guessing that you're just upset that conservatives are rejecting the do nothing moderate conservatives, RINO's if you will, and are using social media to change the narrative to something that you see is threatening.
Drlee is very upset that the RINOs have been rebuffed by base voters. They were used to foisting a Jeb Bush on the voter and getting their way.
maz wrote:Should banks ban their customers from using their checking, savings and credit services?
They have already started trying to do this. Patreon began this, followed by PayPal. Now banks are in on it too.
Drlee wrote:I advocate banning people who are deliberately posting as truth things are are demonstrably and obviously untrue
Would this include the Democratic party's Trump-Russia collusion theory, which has no evidence to support it? In fact, all the evidence suggests it was manufactured by Hillary Clinton and propagated by administrative state actors with ties to the Democratic party.
Drlee wrote:Social media websites are private property.
The big ones are publicly traded, and they claim to be utilities and not responsible for the content that others post on their sites.
Drlee wrote:They can ban whomever they like for any or no reason at all.
You mean like black people, women, immigrants, non-Christians, etc?
Drlee wrote:My front yard is there for all to see. That does not mean that you can plant a political sign in my yard without my permission. But I can plant one. See how easy that is?
So, you mean if CBS likes Democrats, they can accept advertising from Democratic candidates and ban advertising from Republican candidates? I thought that was against the law. Hrmmmm...
Drlee wrote:But there are quite a few people like me who think that the party can be reigned in and returned to the path of something like American conservatism.
Delusional, but okay. I think you should just create another party.
Drlee wrote:The republican party, until recently, never would have stood for a KKK member speaking at its convention. And if I owned facebook I would not let him/her speak on my property either.
Facebook claims that it is a utility and not responsible for customer content. If you were a utility, would you sell electricity and gas to racists? Yes. Why? You have to by operation of law.
Drlee wrote:But when Zuckerberg does it you whine like a bitch and wax philosophical about free speech.
Zuckerberg claims Facebook is a utility and as such cannot be held liable for customer content. The law does not need to offer Facebook liability exemption if Facebook regulates speech on its platform.
If Zuckerberg and Facebook want to regulate content, I'm fine with that as long as they are exposed to liability for what they publish and they can be sued for it. It's one way or the other. If content is objectionable but doesn't violate the law, it's a-okay from the standpoint of a public utility. If Facebook wants to be a publisher, that's fine too. They just shouldn't be allowed to claim utility status while trying to regulate speech.
"We have put together the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics."
-- Joe Biden