Texas has declared open season on FB, Twitter and YouTube with censorship law(cnn.com)
cnn.com
Texas has declared open season on FB, Twitter and YouTube with censorship law
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/13/tech/texas-hb20-social-media-law/index.html
3 comments
THe irony is that for decades, republicans have pushed for the privatization of public resources and spaces, for reasons of control and profit. In public spaces, you have rights of access and expression, and in private spaces, those rights can be curtailed. But online, this hasn't worked out quite as advantageously as they'd hoped, so now they're big mad.
Your rights of access and expression can be and often are curtailed in public spaces as well. Laws, regulations and ordinances don't cease to exist in "public."
Yes, there's laws. Sure. Public spaces aren't anarchic free-fire zones. But there's still a difference between a real public square and a privately-owned space,
I have no sympathy for FB, Twitter, YouTube (or Disney, for that matter). Corporations need to be reined in and put in their place, even if Republicans in Texas and Florida are going about it in ways I don't necessarily agree with for reasons I think are batshit crazy.
If they go about it for batshit crazy reasons, they'll do it in batshit crazy ways, and almost certainly make it worse instead of better.
Case in point: Josh Hawley's bill to reduce copyright to 56 years max. Even if it got through Congress and signed into law it would probably get challenged for contravening a bunch of international copyright treaties to which the US is a signatory.
It's like Republicans are so high on the "America First" Flavor-Aid that the concept of "treaty obligations" is as utterly foreign to them as the notion of learning to speak a little French if you're going to visit France.
It's like Republicans are so high on the "America First" Flavor-Aid that the concept of "treaty obligations" is as utterly foreign to them as the notion of learning to speak a little French if you're going to visit France.
I just think its en vogue and politically advantageous for republicans to attack disney right now.
I've hated Disney even longer than I've hated Republicans, so I'm happy to see them go at each other. I just wish they'd do it with weapons more potent than harsh language.
wow who the hell are you, hating Disney so much that you want weapons involved? there has to be more to your story.
GP is pretty obviously referring to litigation or legislation, not literally weaponry.
As tempting as it might be to literally nuke Disney, actually doing so would entail too much collateral damage. So I'd be happy to see Disney go the way of Standard Oil. There's nothing wrong with megacorps like Disney that can't be fixed with vigorous antitrust persecution.
Yeah, and that's not really "their place"; that being the correct place? Or does any place they are put do?
As far as I'm concerned, corporations are not people, should not have rights, and should be treated as privately owned/operated state agencies with narrowly-defined powers enumerated in their charters. They should be subject to immediate dissolution should they overstep their authority -- and the executives responsible should face criminal liability.
How does banning Trump, Nazis, and outright liars overstep Twitter's authority?
I agree that a companies are not people but they also aren't the proverbial public-square. Why should Twitter be subject to laws that the daily newspaper is not? WaPo, USAToday, etc aren't required to publish Trump's rants, Nazi propaganda, or anti-science nonsense.
I agree that a companies are not people but they also aren't the proverbial public-square. Why should Twitter be subject to laws that the daily newspaper is not? WaPo, USAToday, etc aren't required to publish Trump's rants, Nazi propaganda, or anti-science nonsense.
I’ll also add that there is an argument to be made that Twitter (and FB, etc) is the public square in 2022+. But, if that’s the case, I’m not sure what we do about it - forcing a private corporation to host speech is doesn’t want associate with doesn’t feel correct. Maybe a government buy-out of Twitter? Make it officially part of the public square? Feels wrong too, but less wrong than forcing Twitter-the-corporation to do our bidding?
the government should also buy MySpace and /.
I agree with this one, as much as I hate to say it. Twitter pays to host its website, the infrastructure, advertising, etc. So just as a company would have you escorted off the premises or arrested for saying something they don't like, Twitter should have the right to moderate their platform as they see fit. Though my personal belief is that no information should be censored except child pornography.
Yeah, I supported their right to ban Trump and actually agreed with it.
I support Elon's right to unban him if he purchases Twitter too even though I'm of mixed feelings about it.
Disassociation is a type of speech and the other, very important IMHO, side of the 1st amendment coin.
I support Elon's right to unban him if he purchases Twitter too even though I'm of mixed feelings about it.
Disassociation is a type of speech and the other, very important IMHO, side of the 1st amendment coin.