4 ms·
This is getting into the more nuanced argument of “taking private property” for the public good - or at least allowing access to it for first amendment activiti
by linkjuice4all 5y ago
This is getting into the more nuanced argument of “taking private property” for the public good - or at least allowing access to it for first amendment activities.
One issue with “forcing” first amendment protections on a private party is compelling speech from that party (in this case Twitter). If Twitter is entitled to first amendment “protection” from the government then it can’t be compelled to “speak” on behalf of a user.
Prohibiting shopping centers from blocking first amendment activities recognized that there are only so many “publicly available” squares in “real life” where people can exercise their first amendment rights. This doesn’t exactly hold true on the internet. There are an “infinite” number of public squares.
Another way to look at this is how IP “theft” is thought of. If I steal your CD you can’t listen to the music on it - but if I copy the MP3 then no one has been “deprived” of the original. Similarly “anyone” can stand in the “public square” of the internet without depriving someone else of that same space and access - an argument that doesn’t work in real life.
If there are infinite public squares do you need to be given access to all of them? Do you want to be compelled to speak for someone else simply because you’ve become large enough?
As a US citizen I’d prefer that these issues with corporations be addressed via other means that deal with monopoly power, open standards, data privacy/portability and similar. The first amendment is a powerful sword but it’s not a solution to a “bad actor” at the scale of Twitter - break up the company if you don’t like what they’re doing but don’t force them to speak for other people.
- criddell 5y ago> If there are infinite public squares do you need to be given access to all of them? But there aren't and infinite number online or off. The key part is the space has to be a place people congregate. Online, are there any public squares?
- nybble41 5y ago> But there aren't and infinite number online or off. Not literally, no. But there is effectively unlimited room in "cyberspace" for both public and private squares. That people actually choose to congregate in a particular place isn't really part of the definition. You have the right to speak to those who wish to listen—not the right to an unwilling audience or the use of others' property to amplify your message. > Online, are there any public squares? Only those that the operators choose to make public. The government could run its own forums where it guarantees access to anyone who wants to speak… not that this is necessarily less prone to censorship. It can't guarantee you an audience (and most sane individuals would probably avoid a completely unmoderated forum given the kinds of speakers they attract), but then that's also true of real-life public squares.