4 ms·

> The public square analogy makes much more sense here. But even then, in a lot of places there are impartiality requirements on media outlets, as flawed as th

> The public square analogy makes much more sense here. But even then, in a lot of places there are impartiality requirements on media outlets, as flawed as they may be. The "Public Square" assumes the space is owned by... well the public. Either the town or city. That's not the case here. Even if it were, the reach of a person in the public square is tiny... a few hundred people if they are absolutely lucky. Besides... your rights in actual public squares haven't changed a bit. Save the fact that COVID has shut down many public spaces. > But then what if I start buying out every printing press in town? You mean the way Clear Channel has actually bought up a huge percentage of radio stations? The way big right wing corporations have bought up the majority of local television stations in the country? Is it "fair" that the majority of television broadcast stations are owned by a few right-wing media companies? For what it's worth, all three "competing" local broadcast television stations are owned by the same company now. I'd love to know why people think it's super important that Facebook and Twitter cease their supposedly "biased" curating while so many broadcast companies which reach 10s of millions of homes get a free pass.

emptyparadise 6y ago
So let's go after TV and radio stations too, then? I'm not opposed to that. By the way, I don't think forcing broadcasters or social media to not police their content is the way to go - I'd much rather make sure they don't become monopolistic. The situation you describe with TV must not happen with social media too.
- erklik 6y ago
  I think the point was that we didn't seem to mind that consolidation nor the censorship/biased reporting in those media sources yet want to ask Twittter/Facebook to hold themselves to a new standard. Is it more because it's conservative views being censored now?
  - emptyparadise 6y ago
    I think that consolidation was a lot less visible, plus people's attitudes are changing. Finally, this ship has not sailed yet, while TV is pretty much doomed. American conservatives, being as... loud as they are, did make the issue more mainstream, but people have been bringing up these problems for as long as the internet has been around.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  > I'd much rather make sure they don't become monopolistic. The situation you describe with TV must not happen with social media too. I'd love to see more variety in social media. Unfortunately network effects favor big single player. Also, every time a new entrant threatens, they get sucked up by an existing player. Sadly, since we've allowed Facebook to swallow everything which isn't bolted down, the only real competition seems to be Chinese owned[0]. (And I sympathize with foreign governments struggling with Facebook & Instagram being US owned). [0] I have no qualms about Chinese people or even Chinese companies in general. But the way the Chinese government operates, I am skeptical of platforms based on speech.

emptyparadise 6y ago

So let's go after TV and radio stations too, then? I'm not opposed to that. By the way, I don't think forcing broadcasters or social media to not police their content is the way to go - I'd much rather make sure they don't become monopolistic. The situation you describe with TV must not happen with social media too.

erklik 6y ago
I think the point was that we didn't seem to mind that consolidation nor the censorship/biased reporting in those media sources yet want to ask Twittter/Facebook to hold themselves to a new standard. Is it more because it's conservative views being censored now?
- emptyparadise 6y ago
  I think that consolidation was a lot less visible, plus people's attitudes are changing. Finally, this ship has not sailed yet, while TV is pretty much doomed. American conservatives, being as... loud as they are, did make the issue more mainstream, but people have been bringing up these problems for as long as the internet has been around.
ogre_codes 6y ago
> I'd much rather make sure they don't become monopolistic. The situation you describe with TV must not happen with social media too. I'd love to see more variety in social media. Unfortunately network effects favor big single player. Also, every time a new entrant threatens, they get sucked up by an existing player. Sadly, since we've allowed Facebook to swallow everything which isn't bolted down, the only real competition seems to be Chinese owned[0]. (And I sympathize with foreign governments struggling with Facebook & Instagram being US owned). [0] I have no qualms about Chinese people or even Chinese companies in general. But the way the Chinese government operates, I am skeptical of platforms based on speech.