The internet's “town square” is dead

Re:The internet's “town square” is dead by ethanbond on Sunday July 09, 2023 @03:50PM (#36658186)

No, “we” are not doing the same. In China the state compels private companies to hold and enforce certain positions toward certain speech. That’s exactly what the “anti-censorship” lobby is asking for, and it’s not at all what is happening today in the US.

Today, you have private companies managing content on their own platforms according to their own policies. The government can and does ask for certain actions and, unlike China, companies are more than welcome to decline those requests.

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Re:The internet's “town square” is dead by c_crank on Sunday July 09, 2023 @04:25PM (#36658512)

Indeed, the relationship of the state and business does differ in China. In the US it is more decentralized.

To the person who considers the outcome of something like Weibo covered in deleted comments and only having survivors parrot narrow lines, this is a bad thing, even if the cause differs.

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Re:The internet's “town square” is dead by jakelazaroff on Sunday July 09, 2023 @05:04PM (#36658872)

I’m not an expert on censorship in China, so I won’t weigh in on that, but in the US it’s a non-issue. If you can’t discuss some conservative view on Twitter, move over to Truth Social or Gab or the many Mastodon instances that exist explicitly to host that content.

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