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> There is no way Facebook can satisfy the competing demands of different political factions and their own users so the more they capitulate to political demand

> There is no way Facebook can satisfy the competing demands of different political factions and their own users so the more they capitulate to political demands the more users they will drive away and the more radical the demands on them will become. Yep. This is why FB, GOOGL, etc needed to be "neutral". The day they caved in is the day their "promise" ended. The demands of censorship will continue. FB is deluding themselves if they think this is a one time deal. And not only that, other countries will start barring FB/GOOGL/etc when it becomes apparent that they are essentially biased political tools.

KaoruAoiShiho 9y ago
We're not yet in some cyberpunk world of sovereign corporations (not sure I'd prefer that anyway). Companies work within the political control of nation states. Dismantle state power if you want what you say to be possible, as it is it's just not.
- saas_co_de 9y ago
  It seems that we are in the cyberpunk world of sovereign corporations when it comes to tax avoidance but not when it comes to free speech, so take from that what you will.
superioritycplx 9y ago
GOOGL caved in when Eric Schmidt joined Hillary's camp. http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-emails-google-eric-schmidt-relationship-with-clintons-2016-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-emails-google-eric-...
jpalomaki 9y ago
Is it possible to be "neutral" and yet keep sensible limits for what is allowed and what is not? Enforcing the rules is not straightforward and different parties tend to view things differently. Somebody sees hate speech, someone else valid criticism.
zionic 9y ago
IMO, the solution to this is to develop FOSS platforms that run similar to a mesh network, yet to the common user look like an app or a website. Russia can't direct "BitTorrent" to do something. And really, it seems like social networks are perfect for these kinds of swarm P2P systems where the protocol is some evolving standard and various clients can interact with it.
- codedokode 9y ago
  I am not sure if Russia can ban BitTorrent, but sure they can ban a website or an app in App Store.
- davidcbc 9y ago
  How are you going to get people to use your platform? That's the problem with all of these "Facebook but better!" ideas, the killer feature of a social network is the people and Facebook has them.

KaoruAoiShiho 9y ago

We're not yet in some cyberpunk world of sovereign corporations (not sure I'd prefer that anyway). Companies work within the political control of nation states. Dismantle state power if you want what you say to be possible, as it is it's just not.

saas_co_de 9y ago
It seems that we are in the cyberpunk world of sovereign corporations when it comes to tax avoidance but not when it comes to free speech, so take from that what you will.

superioritycplx 9y ago

GOOGL caved in when Eric Schmidt joined Hillary's camp. http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-emails-google-eric-schmidt-relationship-with-clintons-2016-11 http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-emails-google-eric-...

jpalomaki 9y ago

Is it possible to be "neutral" and yet keep sensible limits for what is allowed and what is not? Enforcing the rules is not straightforward and different parties tend to view things differently. Somebody sees hate speech, someone else valid criticism.

zionic 9y ago

IMO, the solution to this is to develop FOSS platforms that run similar to a mesh network, yet to the common user look like an app or a website. Russia can't direct "BitTorrent" to do something. And really, it seems like social networks are perfect for these kinds of swarm P2P systems where the protocol is some evolving standard and various clients can interact with it.

codedokode 9y ago
I am not sure if Russia can ban BitTorrent, but sure they can ban a website or an app in App Store.
davidcbc 9y ago
How are you going to get people to use your platform? That's the problem with all of these "Facebook but better!" ideas, the killer feature of a social network is the people and Facebook has them.