Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler

Re:Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler by ImprobableTruth on Saturday January 09, 2021 @10:40PM (#25709396)

I don't doubt that these companies are acting in their own best interest, if I was in their position I probably would have done the same (well, actually I probably would have done it a whole lot earlier), but that doesn't mean that it's great that corporations have this power. Hell, the fact that these companies are likely actually just doing all this because it's better for their bottom line makes me actually _less_ trusting of them.

Hate speech is definitely an issue, but I want the government, who are democratically elected and (should) serve the people, to take care of it.

Anti-monopoly efforts are nice, but the required scale of them seems incredibly unrealistic for anything that isn't far off into the future. Especially because it seems likely that for internet companies other countries would simply step in (unless you put up some china like internet firewall...).

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Re:Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler by elicash on Saturday January 09, 2021 @10:45PM (#25709467)

I personally don't want government to mandate speech policies on private companies and think people should be allowed to join websites that enforce values they like and agree with. My woodworking forum should be allowed to have a "no politics" rule. A Christian dating site should be allowed to ban atheists, like me. A social media app should be allowed to ban hate speech -- I don't want government making it illegal for there to be communities without hate speech.

Unless you're suggesting government should just ban hate speech? I don't favor that, either, but maybe I should ask for clarity here.

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Re:Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler by ImprobableTruth on Saturday January 09, 2021 @11:33PM (#25710080)

For 'normal' companies this definitely would be absurd, but I think a good amount of these incredibly large companies should essentially be regulated as a public utility.

>Unless you're suggesting government should just ban hate speech?

For 'published' speech that is, essentially like libel. I know that censorship laws can be dangerous, but it realistically just strikes me as the lesser evil. You evidently can't just let that stuff openly fester, but I simply can't imagine a situation where the government would suppress 'good' speech but a company with equal power wouldn't.

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