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Trump could just create his own YouTube platform though right? Oh no wait, it would be taken down by the hosting company. But he could just host his own serve
by kypro 6y ago
Trump could just create his own YouTube platform though right?
Oh no wait, it would be taken down by the hosting company.
But he could just host his own servers and build his own infrastructure?
But it would be banned by his domain provider.
But he could register with ICANN and become a registrar?
Perhaps, but he still wouldn't be able to monetize the platform because Visa / MasterCard would ban him from accepting payments.
But he could build his own payment infrastructure?
Maybe there's a slim chance if you're fortunate enough to be Donald Trump, but even that would be challenging now banks are refusing to do business with him too.
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I'm not a fan of Trump but anyone still giving the "it's only Alex Jones" defence is being extremely naive at this point. If you own a company today and have the wrong political opinions you should be aware that these companies can and will crush you. This isn't about Trump or what he said, this is about whether or not it should be practically impossible to run a business if your politics doesn't align with a handful of monopolies in the US.
Does an individual or company need Twitter / Facebook / YouTube, probably not. Should someone have a right to critical web services? Maybe... It's kind of hard to start a business without them in 2021. Should someone have a right to take card payments in 2021? Yeah, personally I think there is no question here.
When someone high profile like Trump gets deplatformed I often see people say, "well they could always use [x] service instead", but has been proven by Parler to be a ban argument. It's basically impossible to create a successful alt platform when you can't accept payments or find a hosting company. The conversation we're having about Twitter and YouTube is just a distraction from the real problem which is a lack of competition. If there was competition companies like Twitter wouldn't be so quick to kick people from their platform when they see platforms like Parler rapidly growing in response to Twitter's censorship. But the free market clearly isn't working here and regulation is needed. We have no choice and so these companies can force us to stay within their lines or face insurmountable consequences. And there is no forgiveness. Once you're gone, you're gone. One mistake and you're out.
- lettergram 6y agoI don’t know if you’ve watched what happen to Gab. They have been banned from everything. They built their own browser, media, host their own servers, working on a phone, etc My concern is when IPs or DNS is blocked. There are distributed DNS solutions, but they aren’t there yet. I personally bought a pinephone this last week and plan to try and stabilize it enough to hand to family members. Possibly I’ll even start selling tech support for it. I’m not by any means a supporter of either political establishment either. But I believe we can’t have a two tiered system. If corporations are going to exert power over the population, it can be combated. My concern, is what happens when they get in government. Remember, Trump banned lobbying his administration. https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/ https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/ Biden’s adding them to his staff now. That could be a good thing (know the industry, etc). But it could also be used as a governmental hammer on alternatives. At that point you have fascism.
- llampx 6y agoI don't agree with alt-right but I do recognize that alternative social media is a big threat to the established oligopoly. It is like car manufacturers or oil companies sabotaging alternative energy companies.