Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Tech media platforms are not fast food restaurants. There's a reason why anti-trust charges are being brought against them, and why calls have been growing for them to be regulated. In a lot of ways, they're more like a combination of newspaper publishers and utilities that have secured quasi-monopolies. Both newspaper publishers and energy utilities are regulated by government policies and oversight.
This isn't about Trump. Unless you think everyone raising red flags are closet MAGA supporters. But maybe Angela Merkel just wants to be able to fly confederate flags and post conspiracy theories on Facebook.
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Yes. Our world is rapidly and increasingly digitized. These platforms are the infrastructure of our digital world, which represents a larger and larger component of our lives each year, especially our public lives. They are essential infrastructure.
This is a case where private companies acted without direction from government, and obviously in opposition to the head of state, to cut off the access of the head of state to the fundamental infrastructure of engagement in public life that takes place in the digital sphere.
Was it warranted? Given the context, yeah, I think so, though not equally across all platforms. I don't really see the justification for Shoppify banning Trump, for instance. I also view banning his personal account differently than censoring messages posted via the official accounts of the POTUS or the WH. Overall though, I feel the world is made better by Trump being shut up and he deserved to have civil society turn its back on him.
Nonetheless, it's a demonstration of power that is a bit hair-raising. I can't help feeling that a democratic society should either have tight regulations on these types of decisions or have publicly-owned alternative service providers. Probably both. It's just too much power.