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Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 4:47 pm
by _DarkHelmet
YouTube, Facebook and Apple have taken steps to remove content associated with InfoWars and its founder Alex Jones.
https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/06/techno ... index.htmlWhat do you think? I'm a fan of letting everyone compete in the marketplace of ideas. The nutjobs eventually get pushed to the margins. However, these companies aren't required to allow everyone a platform for their ideas, so they have every right to do this. Infowars fans can still go to infowars.com for their daily dose of crazy.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 5:15 pm
by _Some Schmo
Alex Jones has free speech like everyone else, and everyone gets to react to Alex Jones in their own 1st amendment way. Nobody is shutting down his show (denying him his right to free speech). Some have simply decided they aren't going to be a party to it anymore.
If people abuse their rights, they may find those rights limited going forward (just ask Bach). These private companies don't want or have to honor Jones' misinformation campaign, and good on them for choosing against his show. It's not like Jones is doing anything for the public good.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 6:44 pm
by _DarkHelmet
Some Schmo wrote:Alex Jones has free speech like everyone else, and everyone gets to react to Alex Jones in their own 1st amendment way. Nobody is shutting down his show (denying him his right to free speech). Some have simply decided they aren't going to be a party to it anymore.
If people abuse their rights, they may find those rights limited going forward (just ask Bach). These private companies don't want or have to honor Jones' misinformation campaign, and good on them for choosing against his show. It's not like Jones is doing anything for the public good.
Yes, and I suppose this is an example of crazy ideas being pushed to the fringes, which is expected in the free marketplace of ideas.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:25 pm
by _subgenius
DarkHelmet wrote:However, these companies aren't required to allow everyone a platform for their ideas, so they have every right to do this.
Remind me, do you feel this same way about wedding cake bakers?
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:26 pm
by _subgenius
DarkHelmet wrote:
Yes, and I suppose this is an example of crazy ideas being pushed to the fringes, which is expected in the free marketplace of ideas.
someone once said that freedom of expression is vital because it allows you to identify the freaks.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:32 pm
by _DarkHelmet
subgenius wrote:DarkHelmet wrote:However, these companies aren't required to allow everyone a platform for their ideas, so they have every right to do this.
Remind me, do you feel this same way about wedding cake bakers?
Do wedding cake bakers fall under public accommodation laws? Do social media sites fall under public accommodation laws? My own personal opinion is bakeries should be required to serve everyone if they're a public business, and they should be required to bake the same type of general wedding cake for gays as they do for heteros. However, they should not be required to put any overtly homoerotic art on the cake if requested. It's really no different than an interracial couple being denied a wedding cake, and I'm sure the same arguments were made back then. Also, I don't think being an insane fear mongerer is covered by non-discrimination laws.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:27 pm
by _honorentheos
His civil war propaganda complicates it for me. Otherwise I would be opposed to censoring his speech unequivocally.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:41 pm
by _Chap
honorentheos wrote:His civil war propaganda complicates it for me. Otherwise I would be opposed to censoring his speech unequivocally.
Please excuse me repeating what I said in another thread:
viewtopic.php?p=1136012#p1136012Social media companies as presently constituted have no obligation to give a platform to crazy and frankly paranoid fantasies, any more than I have an obligation to allow a person to stick posters on my front wall propagating the said crazy and frankly paranoid fantasies.
No free speech rights are violated, any more than they are when Fox News does not give Bernie Sanders his own weekly breakfast show.
The person in question remains free to post whatever he wants on his own website, subject to the law, to write and publish a book, or a newspaper, to send emails to his fans, make speeches to rallies, or whatever else he wants to do.
Find another way to get this guy victim status.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:02 pm
by _Some Schmo
honorentheos wrote:His civil war propaganda complicates it for me. Otherwise I would be opposed to censoring his speech unequivocally.
Is it censoring when a supermarket decides to no longer carry a brand of beer because, after a while, they realize nobody buys it?
There is a marketplace of material for these platforms, and the proprietors aren't required to carry everything just because it exists.
Re: Social media sites shut down infowars
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:32 pm
by _Some Schmo
Chap wrote: No free speech rights are violated, any more than they are when Fox News does not give Bernie Sanders his own weekly breakfast show.
Exactly. And they don't have any obligation to do so.
Besides, most people don't even expect the veneer of objectivity on many of the "news" outlets these days. Free speech has its dark side, but it's still the best option. I do often wonder if free speech should be extended to outright lying from organizations calling themselves a news source, given the critical nature of the free press in US politics. Sometimes I think intentional lying from the press should be illegal. The problem would be proving that intent, I guess.