3 ms·
Both the government and private companies can censor stuff. But private companies are a little bit scarier. They have no constitution to answer to. They’re not
by mrfusion 5y ago
Both the government and private companies can censor stuff. But private companies are a little bit scarier. They have no constitution to answer to. They’re not elected. They have no constituents or voters. All of the protections we’ve built up to protect against government tyranny don’t exist for corporate tyranny.
- Aaron Swartz
- NikolaNovak 5y agoI agree with that statement 100%. Our government, on some level, is supposed to be accountable to general public and there exists, in principle, a mechanism to hold them accountable. Whether that mechanism is flawless or not, whether it works as well as we want it to, should not distract from the fact that there isn't even REMOTELY such a mechanism for big corporations. When people clamor for flawed government being replaced by companies, I shudder exactly for that reason. You're trading system with public protection/accountability that's flawed, to one where public protection/accountability do not exist, by design. My post should not be mis-interpreted as being against government or regulation. But I don't think Facebook is infringing upon my constitutionally protected free speech. If we want to regulate Facebook (and I think we should), we need to have a more thought-through reason, method, desired goal and tracking of outcomes.