It’s hard to see this as anything more than an attempt to change their bet on a losing horse in this race, as the commenter you replied to pointed out.
And I’m not sure if we’re remembering the same 2016 election. We’re both talking about the same election, that resulted in the largest win for an American political party in history, right? 2016 was absolutely horrendous for conservatives and their saving grace was the senate cycle was particularly bad for democrats. If there’s a similar performance this election there’s a good chance that they take both branches.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/29/21274812/joe-biden-donald... : "Joe Biden doesn’t like Trump’s Twitter order, but still wants to revoke Section 230"
They may not be raising specifically 230 concerns. But democrats are absolutely bringing up anti-trust concerns regarding major tech company.
Arguably, anti-trust breakup of major tech companies would be much more destructive to those tech companies, than merely removing some tech companies ability to moderate content.
My comment that you replied to says that democrats in the house have been bringing up anti-trust concerns. Anti-trust and 230 regulation are two separate things done for different reasons. They are not equivalent actions nor do are they being pursued out of the same concerns. Trying to conflate them is wrong.
I think that from a higher level principle, they can be conflated.
The way that they can be conflated is that many of these tech companies, just don't have many friends left.
Even if the exact reason as for why they don't have many friends left may be different, the end result is still the same.
The left and the right may be going after them from different angles, but that is still pretty bad, because nobody is there to defend them.
People who may have stuck their neck out to defend them in the past, just aren't going to do so anymore.
And sorry, they are still not conflatable - you’re still trying to create a false equivalence. They are not the same thing, the desire here to misrepresent facts to fit into a narrative is intellectually dishonest.
Well, in the legislative bodies, they have much less ability to defend itself, than in the past, due to both parties having significant, albeit different, problems with these companies.
> trying to create a false equivalence.
They are equivalent in the specific aspect of them having less allies in congress, and that this makes them more vulnerable than in the past.
IE, less people in our legislative bodies will be willing to stick their neck out to defend them.
> to fit into a narrative
It is absolutely accurate to say that these companies have less allies in congress, than in the past, and that being hit, from both sides, on these 2 issues, hurts these companies.
You can use different words to describe having less allies, or allies that are less likely to support them, if you want.
But my point still stands. They either have less allies, or those allies are less likely to look at these tech companies through "rose-tinted glasses"
Glad you agree that their former "allies" are no longer looking at these companies so favorable, using " rose-tinted glasses".
Arguments that would essentially allow monopolistic behavior has pretty much always been firmly inside republican laissez-faire circles, and those allies are still very much there. Railing against tech elites may play great for tv, but let’s be honest - Peter Thiel, strong advocate of monopoly, still spoke at the Republican national convention. There’s a good reason they overruled fact-checkers when conservatives violated their prescribed rules, they know where their bread is buttered.
https://www.engadget.com/facebook-overruled-fact-checkers-to...
That's what I'm trying to say, here. Either way you slice it, 230 is in the crosshairs, it's just a matter of who's holding the gun and for what purpose.
I also wouldn't bet a cent of my own money on the GOP being "wholesale evicted". I heard very similar, equally confident talk in 2016.