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You're being sloppy with terms. In the US, obscenity isn't protected by free speech, but non-obscene profanity is. Hate speech? Threats of violence aren't free
by greglindahl 10y ago
You're being sloppy with terms. In the US, obscenity isn't protected by free speech, but non-obscene profanity is. Hate speech? Threats of violence aren't free speech, but a lot of odious hate speech is. Court cases about bullying frequently fail.
Of course Reddit, being private, has the right to do whatever it wants. But it's important to realize where the lines are drawn for public discourse.
- a_bonobo 10y agoI don't think harassment via private messages counts as public discourse
- greglindahl 10y agoI agree. I wasn't talking about private messages in my comment. One nice thing about public discourse is that it's public, i.e., it's easy for everyone to debate how odious it is. Private messages are very different, and should be filtered quite differently. From a sunlight point of view, being able to make private messages public is quite effective, albeit a feature which should be disclosed in advance.