Updated 2 years ago
Defending what Amazon did to Parler, what Twitter did to Trump,
and what private companies do every day
“Censorship is when an authority (such as a government or religion) cuts out or suppresses communication. This may be done because it is considered wrong, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or other authority. This can be done for different reasons.”
While it’s true that “censorship” is often counterproductive, as in the Streisand Effect, our legal system over hundreds of years has consistently clarified that it doesn’t apply to speech on platforms run by private companies. You cannot force or compel private entities to say, or repeat, or otherwise transmit, anything. This is America.
Arguing private companies should be forced to conduct businesses and carry messages involuntarily would require a rewrite of our Constitution, and a massive erosion of our concept of private property. Basically, communism. As such, it has little basis in reality and is reminiscent of Trump trying to challenge the election results.
So let’s not pave over reality and nuance with blanket statements, and ask ourselves these questions:
I am Johannes Gutenberg. Should I be forced to print horrible things on this newfangled printing press?
Should I have the freedom to yell fire in a theater, and escape the consequences?
I own a book publisher. What if I think your idea for a novel stinks?
I run a newspaper. Should I be forced to publish your inane, misspelled letters to the editor?
I run a web site. Should I be allowed to let you spam the comments with the N word?
If you write for my blog, should I be forced to let you write whatever you want?
Should I be forced to be friends with you on Facebook?
Should media companies and/or tech companies be forced to transmit violent threats?
I run a tech company. Should I be allowed to let you use my services, knowing that they cause deaths?
Should I be forced to allow you to slander, cyberbully, and harass people on my platforms?
And should I be forced have to shoulder all the legal, financial, and moral burdens of what you said, on my platform?
But wait, you say. Amazon is a monopoly. No, it is not. It has a 40% share. Even if it was 100% share, you could still run a website. It just wouldn’t be able to serve many customers.
But wait, you say. Scalable internet network infrastructure is so big and so great, it can be considered public. They qualify as a public town square. Nope. Walmart almost qualifies as public spaces in many areas, and they can eject you for whatever they want.
Because they are a private company. That’s how capitalism works.
Finally, freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. It is one of the rights granted by the Constitution that coexists with other rights, and should not be viewed in isolation.
Many “conservatives” don’t even know what they don’t know and are talking out of their asses. They need to remember that they are supposed to support private property and free enterprise.
In summary, nuance exists, and stop trying to recreate the world built around your delusions.
