Facebook, Censorship, and the First Amendment
- Thread starter J Craft
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Rob Larrikin
Thunderstruck
It may be infuriating that the millennials running big social media are censoring conservatives, but it would be a mistake to ban them from doing so. They should be free to censor whom they like. Let them do what they like and live with the consequences. Sooner or later someone else will put up alternatives who will invite conservatives to abandon their Left winged rivals. “Why by persecuted on Twitter or Facebook,” they’ll advertise, “when you can roast Democrats all you like on ‘Chirpy’ and ‘Facefox'?”
When Chirpy and Facefox arrive, Twitter and Facebook will lose a lot of members. Let’s get on with that and stop worrying about what the Left versions are up to.
There is no 1st Amendment issue. Free speech protects against government restrictions and there was no government action. Private businesses are free to make their own decisions. And nobody is being prevented from having their own web site, publication............. Freedom of speech does not mean somebody else has to carry your messages.
Bigdog
Harris - make America a 3rd world shithole
As you probably know, sites like Facebook are on the verge of being classified like utility company's because they have a virtual monopoly.
Indeed. I foresee some interference between social media and our election process. Private companies may be free to censor what they want to, but there are limits such as child porn, commercial speech, speech owned by others, etc. Subverting the election process is not part of the program, since we have never had companies powerful enough to do such a thing, but I suspect that this is where the the legal breakdown of internet and social media monopolies will occur. A monopoly of news and information has the ability to manipulate and control the election process that is supposed to be in the hands of We the People, so I would not be surprised to see some changes made to our free speech rights and laws.
Lefties will naturally be on the side of these monopolies, since these companies are promoting lefty agenda. It is important though, to consider what happens when these big companies install the government leadership that they select for you. What if Zuckerburg wants to begin installing his family and friends as the government? Where would you go for unbiased and uncensored information? These information monopolies may look great right now, but this could all backfire in the future.
Excellently said.
I don't understand how Facebook is a monopoly since there are hundreds (if not thousands) of internet news sites including almost all newspapers, television networks, etc.
Which, like public utilities, are taxed. Get ready to pay for social media as if it's a channel like HBO.
I would love to see a conservative Social Media platform.
Now that Apple is 100% China, and they've effectively helped the Chinese censor user content - meaning they've mastered the art, I expect censorship to get worse before either the government figures out how to regulate social media, or conservative minded libertarians can launch their own.
Irish Exit
Verified User
Facebook users to an extent can censor their own feeds as far as friends' posts, or at least they could when I was last a member there. There was always that option but not everyone really understood how to do it. It was a lot easier though earlier on when you basically had volume buttons for each friend. Ironically I suppose, it was my left-wing friends I buried their content and not my right wing friends. The righties just wrote diatribes about their Christian persecutions I could just not read. The lefties were the ones who were constantly posting PETA dead and dying animal photos and shit that were hard not to see. Anyway, I reached the point that I either had to quit Facebook or lose all respect for most of the people I knew on it (and I hated their business model) so I cut the cord.
Excuse me sir, but your cuckoo seems to be missing from its clock.
So how, exactly, does a private albeit uber-wealthy citizen like Zuckerberg "begin installing his family and friends as the government"? If that was possible, the Koch brothers, the Rockefellers, the Waltons, the Bezos, the Murdochs, the Gates, etc. would be ruling the country. Well, in a sense they *are* -- since they have the $$ to buy air time, promote their values, and influence voters. You're a moron if you think this hasn't been happening for decades now.
I could have just quit at "You're a moron" and still be correct.
And conservatives will naturally be on the side of what, government regulation??
Did Facebook select Trump for us?
Google is doing the same shit. I doubt that you will be able to see the several plausible paths that can lead to having our election process compromised as long as it also means the fall of your current political opponents. It may sound great to have righties silenced and out of power, but it may be worth considering the price tag on such a victory. The power needs to remain in the hands of We the People, or we ALL lose.
It is very easy to prevent posts from friends from appearing on your Timeline by just unchecking "Follow" or "get notifications." You can also control content by getting F B Purity extension.
Looks like you answered your own question.
I would add that the problems you have listed can be compounded by having momopoly control of news and information.
I use an ad blocker so I don't get most FB ad bullshit, although they *have* gotten sneakier about that and now insert inline ads in your newsfeed rather than the more easily-blocked sidebars. Occasionally some of the unwanted crap is politically oriented. Mostly though they are the most recent posts from the elected officials of our state and include both Senators (D)s and our congressional rep who is an (R), so I have yet to detect any bias there. We live in one of the states purported to have been targeted by Russian media interference, but since 1) we were new here in 2016, and 2) I use ad blocker software, I did not detect anything that I thought was politically motivated at that time. That being said, lately I have noticed RW oriented ads showing up in my scroll, alongside the Amazon ads and other crapola. It clearly states on the post that it is an ad or paid content, so that doesn't indicate Russian influence.... unless they're paying for it with Trump's rubles. lol
You must have some odd lefty friends. A majority of my FB friends/family are as lefty as I am, but very few post those horrid PETA type things. I have seen some with big game hunters posed over their murders but nothing too graphic. My righty friends post stuff from Breitbart, Fox, Gateway Pundit, Trump's Twitter, etc. about how persecuted and maligned he is.... and some also post lurid accts of illegals running wild and murdering ppl, libruls gonna take our guns, and the usual bunch of bs. I don't turn them off because they're my friends and I want to know what they are thinking. They also post some of the most hilarious shit... like a doctored photo of Trump looking prayerful and devoted, eyes cast down in respect, with the faint image of a halo hanging over his wig and the ghost of Jesus in the background. Or Trump, with Old Glory whipping in the breeze behind him, standing steadfastly and heroically and at least 70 lbs lighter and 20 years younger -- gazing off into the future with a steadfast and patriotic visage. Just love those! Damn, there must be a lucrative market for those fake patriot portraits... how do we cash in? lol
I'll start worrying about FB when you start worrying about the Kochs (who I don't think are the big bad boogeymens some fellow libs think they are), Murdoch, the Waltons, etc. You're only worried about the libs. You need to be worried about *all* of them.
Facebook is not a monopoly. It's just very successful.
Let's discuss what you're *really* worried about -- you fear that people like you and me and those brown ppl over there and those foreigners and these liberals and those not-Xtians have access to information, facts, data, a place to share experiences and information with others. You're afraid that conservative interests can't control that information and spin it to their POV. That's the real boogeyman for all fascist political parties: they want to control what information is out there.... and believe that information-dispensing media who want to block obvious propaganda are fascist themselves, rather than entities concerned with being co-opted by inimical interests. Like Russians. Russians are not our friends.
Rob Larrikin
Thunderstruck
So is Islam, the Catholic Church and the Mafia.
Today, 10:27 PM
Rob Larrikin
StupidStruck
This message is hidden because Rob Larrikin is on your ignore list.
Oh darn. You're still gagged. lol
Rob Larrikin
StupidStruck
This message is hidden because Rob Larrikin is on your ignore list.
Oh darn. You're still gagged. lol
Irish Exit
Verified User
A friend of mine from college and I had this conversation the other day and a good laugh about it. I told him that I either had to leave facebook or get blocked by everybody because I was about at the point I was going to start spilling the beans on my pious friends who were drunken, slutty nympho drug buddies all through college and crap like that. I know everybody's skeletons and I don't feel a need to pretend that I wasn't right there with them when it was all going down. I am fairly candid and unashamed about the life I have lived, warts and all. To me it all is just good stories to tell.
Anyway, God yes the animal rights PETA girls were the bane of my feed. The top-shelf of the drunken, slutty nympho drug buddies are now animal rescue people. A lot of them work with farm animals/horses as our college had a pretty big equestrian program at one time, and unfortunately, they are still as hot as ever, so it became a "Is seeing starving horses and mangy dogs too big a price to pay to be able to see them in their tight riding gear?" dilemma.