Obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/1357/

Also the mouse over text applies very well to this situation as well.

This comic is really pernicious because it frames free speech as just a quirky law that restrains the government.

That's like saying honesty is just about not breaking perjury laws in court.

In reality, free speech and free inquiry are social virtues that, like honesty, should be applied and upheld at every level of society, public and private, commercial, academic, and personal. Because free speech is a key mechanism to reach consensus and keep society functioning.

This is becoming even more and more relevant as our "public squares" of discussion are no longer government-owned physical public squares, but rather online fora owned and controlled by mega-corporations.

It's disturbing enough that Facebook or Google could easily turn an election on their whim, and it would be legal. It's even more disturbing that a whole lot of people are loudly proclaiming that this is fine, totally okay, and ethical, just because they think their views will never be the ones that get silenced.

So yeah, that cartoon is terrible.

Except when we're talking about other entities, they also have their own rights to free speech/free association. It's nice to say that free speech is a social virtue, but would you be willing to hold a Klan rally/BLM rally in your front yard?

You know what happens in the real world? That person exits through the door, finds enough people like him outside and gets into political power, then proceeds to show the door to the smug stickman.