It is, but that's not the point. Blizzard isn't trying to redefine free speech, Apple is.

Seriously? So Blizzard getting rid of someone yelling "n----- n----- n-----" nonstop in general chat, you really think that's violating your right to free speech?

Lemme guess, dang banning trolls here on HN is also a violation of free speech, and he should let people say whatever they want, whenever they want?

You realize how insane this stance sounds, right?

To the free speech absolutist, everything should be allowed everywhere.

To someone like me, private corporations can kick people off their services at their pleasure -- and if that did become a problem (but not before), I'd suggest regulating them or building a public alternative. To someone like me, you also can't make false medical claims or falsely advertise your services or falsely label food.

To someone further away from free speech absolutism, private companies should have a department of censorship that responds to the government, the zeitgeist, whatever.

To someone like me, though, there's a lot of knobs and dials to turn on the "what amount of speech lets people thrive and not die" machine and I'm content to have society keep fiddling with them in various ways, as a process and not an end-point.

Technically, it IS violating free speech when anything is censored. That doesn't mean that particular speech is condoned. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that, you just don't want to understand it.

Apple isn't simply moderating misc examples of speech they don't condone, they're attempting to install your (incorrect) version of what free speech means. This is some serious 1984 stuff in action, and a lot of smart people are too ignorant to see what's happening in front of their eyes.

Businesses are in no way obligated to not discriminate (so long as it's not a reason that's due to a protected class). It seems like you disagree.