There’s a lot of small youtubers that have been censored for simply speaking the truth so I don’t agree with this. YouTube and these other will just claim you’ve violated their terms when you clearly haven’t.
Remember, the White House has its own means of releasing information to the public. Trump was the first and only president to prefer to use a privately owned app rather than the standard channels of releasing presidential statements. The office of the president is not being censored.
Social media giants became too big, too powerful, too quickly. Existing laws are not suitable.
“It is a private platform, they are free to decide what happens on their platform” stops making sense when a huge portion of national discourse occurs on a small number of social media giants. (A lamentable situation). It is akin to the postal service refusing to deliver mail to people based on political affiliation.
“If you don’t like it, you are free to make your own platform” doesn’t hold water when alternative platforms are blockaded by the same few tech giants.
Freedom of the Press,
Belongs to those,
Who Own the Presses.
As true today as it was when print was the only media.
All the Best,
Jeff
Exactly this.
The trouble is most of us don’t use free speech or for that matter use twitter etc, we have become lazy and take it for granted - which leads to one thing - the minority, and often (but obviously not always) it’s more crazy views to shout loudest/be seen by the media who LOVE it, in fact because we don’t even speak, they don’t even need to shout. The MEDIA are the ones who drag these views to the front pages/tv news etc to wind the rest of us up. They do a GOOD job at it too.
I wouldn’t even read Trump ( I have no opinion or interest on him, it is not my place or my country) or anyone else’s comments otherwise - i have none of those platforms.
However it is on TV every day - largely on the BBC.
The media play a much bigger role as a megafone than twitter.
I know pretty well that far reaching censorship can be a really bad thing. It worked for decades in communist Poland.
But for subsequent decades there was a far more limited censorship (covering threats, racism, fraud etc.) and I can’t say it was too far reaching. Though it completely failed in the advent of social media because the volume of public speech increased way beyond the capacity. Something more efficient is needed. But I don’t think this something should be arbitrary censorship from non-government actors.
Good points by original poster. I think any effective rights of free speech ended years ago, it’s just gone “mainstream” now that a control structure is being put in place.
I think a big problem is the people in power are not following the rule of law, a clear sign among many that western civilization is in a steep decline.
The OP Last paragraph ;
“It’s also not okay to play the nanny with grownups and consider that people are too stupid think for themselves.
People should have the right to decide what is good and wrong with their own brain. If you deny them access to information that you consider harmful you are actually making them stupid, you are not protecting them. I don’t want to live in a world where everyone is a drone.”
Notice the OP is not in USA.
Please come visit us and I guarantee within 2 days you will realize we have Millions of people that are too stupid to think for themselves.
There will never be a shortage.
Amazing really and not in a good way.
Each and every one of us is someone else’s idiot, that’s why wee need overarching principles like free speech, otherwise everyone would feel perfectly entitled to censor different points of view.
Oh… you can always use Tor
As long as you remember that TLF means “Taschenlampen Forum” NOT “Torlightforum” 
Free speech and freedom of the press are still 100% protected in the USA. The only new restrictions on speech are being imposed by private companies on platforms they own. You can control what people say and do in your house, and so can they.
The fear-mongering about the government restricting speech or freedom of the press has no basis in fact. If you consider who is promoting those fears, and false information about what the government is actually doing, you will understand why it has become a big topic of discussion again.
This simplistic argument does not hold no matter how many times it’s being repeated, if you have editorial control then you fall under publisher status
When the BLM - Antifa protests were taking place, members were also communicating via Twitter/Facebook. CNN, ABCNEWS, etc… didn’t have an issue with it then. Apple & Google didn’t remove Twitter like they did Parler. “Mostly Peaceful Protests” is all I heard. Well, on Jan 06, it was mostly peaceful protests as well. Only a smaller group participated in the invasion. “Double Standard”.
Not really the case when it comes to infringing on someone’s rights, the case of a bakery refusing to bake a cake for gay wedding sets the precedent. this in no different. when you serve public, you are under many statues and laws, you can’t do anything you want, unless you are so rich and powerful, then you are untouchable
Jihadist have been using twitter and facebook for years to call for crimes, display crimes and recruit fighters, these app are still on the play store, apple store, what gives ?
I don’t understand. How does that show that the facts I mentioned are not true? The article you linked doesn’t argue that Facebook is a government entity. It’s about Facebook’s rights, not your rights to post whatever you want to post on Facebook.
I wasn’t making any argument other than to point out that constitutionally-granted free speech rights are protection against government prohibitions on speech, in particular political speech in public. They have nothing to do with private entities prohibiting speech on platforms owned by them. You don’t have any constitutional right to free speech on Facebook or Twitter, no matter how many times you repeat that you do.
Some things we shouldn’t do, not because they’re wrong, but because they dont work. It seems trust in our institutions is at an all time low. I think telling people that there are things they aren’t allowed to talk about will only make them distrust institutions more, especially those trying to shut down dissenting opinions.
Some people see how little trust people have in the media and think it’s trump’s fault but it was happening way before he ran for president. He is more the result of the breakdown rather than the cause.
And I’m not taking sides on politics here. I just think we need to be thoughtful in all we do.
And the fact that they banned parler makes me want parler now. And I dont even use social media.
It feels like they’re fighting a fire with gasoline. No, it’s not illegal, but oh so stupid.
The only forum I have ever been on that has free speech , is the Accuratereloading,com forum . religion , politics , hunting , shooting , fishing , anything .
All points of view are welcome no restrictions .
That’s because Twitter removes accounts that preach hate and have a past of spreading misinformation. BLM, antifa, alt-right or neonazi.
Parler says it will allow these types of accounts. That’s the main difference between Parler and Twitter.