2 ms·
I’m expecting some downvotes for this view but in general, Silicon Valley seems to have confused itself on what exactly the first amendment is. That it prevents
by atonse 8y ago
I’m expecting some downvotes for this view but in general, Silicon Valley seems to have confused itself on what exactly the first amendment is. That it prevents the GOVERNMENT from stopping you from expressing your views. But even in that case, harassment and abuse isn’t protected speech.
But somehow since they’re confused they seem to be perfectly fine with allowing hate groups, abusers, and doxxers run wild on their platforms, even though even the first amendment doesn’t protect them in real life. As part of some collective twisted libertarian dream, these companies give this scum a platform again and again because they profit from it, but hide behind the ideas of libertarianism.
I hope they come to their senses sooner rather than later. IF not, I honestly hope we start looking at changing the law to making these companies liable for crimes committed on their platforms.
- icebraining 8y agoHate groups are certainly protected by the First Amendment; see Snyder v Phelps, for example. It's hard to find any behavior on FB that counts as more hateful than that, and they still won 8-1. That doesn't mean FB can't ban them, mind you, since as you rightly point out, it's (mostly) a restriction on government, not private companies.
- atonse 8y agoTheir speech is protected. But death threats aren’t.