{"id":6386,"date":"2021-07-07T22:04:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1359699"},"modified":"2021-07-07T22:04:57","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:04:57","slug":"why-making-facebook-follow-the-first-amendment-would-be-catastrophic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=6386","title":{"rendered":"Why making Facebook follow the First Amendment would be catastrophic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Former US president Donald Trump\u2019s family businesses are in jeopardy<\/a>. His financial future is in flux<\/a>. And the entire world\u2019s waiting to see if he or one of his children will be charged with a crime soon<\/a>. It\u2019s safe to say he isn\u2019t having his best week.<\/p>\n

And, of course, that means he\u2019s filed a frivolous lawsuit to rile up and distract his base of sycophants from the reality of his unfolding legal situation.<\/p>\n

As TNW\u2019s Thomas Macaulay reported earlier today<\/a>, Trump\u2019s filed a class suit against the CEOs of Google, Facebook, and Twitter. He\u2019s alleging they violated his Constitutional rights and demanding a provisional reinstatement of his social media accounts immediately.<\/p>\n

Here we go again<\/h2>\n

Donald Trump\u2019s been promising to curb and dominate social media companies since his official political title was candidate Trump.<\/p>\n

As part of his whiny strongman routine, the former president issued numerous official statements decrying social media censorship \u2013 hundreds of which were made on social media \u2013 and swearing to end 230 protection<\/a> for social media companies unless they capitulated to conservatives\u2019 increasingly weird demands.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, before Trump lost all his social media accounts, the accusations against Facebook, Google, and Twitter came from right wing provocateurs<\/a> who\u2019d had their social media accounts banned for terms of service violations.<\/p>\n

To date, conservatives have demonstrated absolutely no evidence of bias against conservative ideologies. In fact, numerous peer-reviewed studies have shown a clear, demonstrable, undeniable bias toward conservative personalities<\/a> when it comes to the enforcement of platform rules.<\/p>\n

In other words: conservatives benefit from the myth that there\u2019s a conservative bias against them. But there isn\u2019t. And furthermore, none of that has anything to do with Free Speech.<\/p>\n

The distinct difference between a First Amendment violation and censorship is that only the government can violate your Constitutional right to Free Speech<\/i>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all seen the XKDC comic<\/a> about Free Speech at this point.<\/p>\n

But what if that weren\u2019t the case? What if we could 100% call the conservatives\u2019 bluff?<\/p>\n

What if Facebook were forced to follow the First Amendment?<\/p>\n

In a word: chaos<\/h2>\n

The First Amendment gives US citizens the right to assemble and protest and it guarantees the freedom of the press, among other things. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the US there are no laws preventing Alex Jones from telling his audience that the Sandy Hook massacre never happened. Just as there are no laws preventing Tucker Carlson from telling his audience that the NSA is illegally spying on him. <\/span><\/p>\n

To the best of my knowledge, there\u2019s no evidence to support any of the above conspiracy theories. And that\u2019s why Alex Jones struggles to find a platform that will allow him to make his ridiculous claims, and why Tucker Carlson\u2019s pool of advertisers is about three drops deep.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there are also no laws forcing Fox News to host Tucker Carlson. So we can infer whatever we want from its choice to continue doing so. And, thankfully, there\u2019s no law forcing anyone to host Alex Jones. <\/span><\/p>\n

But Trump is asking the courts to create a law forcing Facebook and Twitter to host him and others who\u2019ve been banned. He\u2019s asking for the creation of a law giving the government the authority to arbitrate whether Google\u2018s Search results are fair to conservatives. <\/span><\/p>\n

Freedom<\/h2>\n

Companies in the US are free to set their own standards when it comes to speech. Whether we\u2019re talking about Facebook\u2019s employees not being allowed to badmouth Facebook on their personal accounts, McDonald\u2019s demanding that all employees wear the proper uniform while on the clock, or the NFL deciding that fans aren\u2019t allowed to protest on the field during games, every company has limits on speech that the Constitution prevents the government itself from instituting on its citizens. <\/span><\/p>\n

Any precedence that forces companies to observe Free Speech would lead to catastrophe \u2013 there has to be limits on expression in order for commerce, business, and society to function properly. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not illegal to yell \u201cI love cake,\u201d but if you go into a bank and start screaming it, and refuse to stop when asked or to leave when told, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll eventually end up being charged with trespassing. The same holds true for yelling \u201cfire\u201d in a crowded theater when there\u2019s no threat, making violent threats, or engaging in hate speech \u2013 almost every facet of US life operates with some constraints on Free Speech. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s up to us, as citizens and business owners, to decide what is and isn\u2019t appropriate. Currently, the First Amendment guarantees that the government won\u2019t make those decisions for us. <\/span><\/p>\n

What former US president Donald Trump and his conservative supporters are asking for is an end to that protection. <\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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