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Comment by mikeash | Hacker News Reader

Alt-right conspiracy nuts != free speech.

How do you figure?

They’re different concepts, and disassociating with alt-right conspiracy nutcases is unrelated to free speech.

Banning alt-right conspiracy theory nutcases might just be related to free speech, however. And that's what most people seem to want Gab to do.

Yes, it's related to free speech, but I just want to point out that it has nothing to do with the US first amendment protections and likely has nothing to do with free speech laws in other areas as well, since those only restrict what government can do.

Choosing to disassociate from speech you don't like is yet another use of free speech, as is banning groups that use speech you don't like from your private platform.

So yeah, gab, Reddit, and Facebook are exercising their right to free speech.

I think you may be confusing “government infringement upon free speech rights” and the much wider concept of “free speech” in general, which is the ability, provided by common spaces and a soap box, or printing presses, and now by the internet, that permits someone with something to say to reach their audience who wishes to hear them.

There are a lot more people who have the ability to shut down a website, regardless of hosting company choice, than have the ability to shut down dissemination of a flyer or stop a speaker from speaking.

Yes, a TOS is freedom of association. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing for society when unpopular speech gets banned from every web host they use, in order.

It’s an interesting question. Speech on the internet does seem to depend on the cooperation of big companies in a way that isn’t seen in other realms.

However, this seems to be drifting off topic. Gab’s web site didn’t get shut down, they just got cut off by a payment processor.

Well now the web site’s getting kicked off Joyent. And, you know, I want the right to choose who I host and who I don’t host if I ran a hosting company. And I’d be happy to host conspiracy theorying white nationalists, but I wouldn’t want to have to transmit child porn wedding cake payments if that were legal.

Their web site is indeed being shut down. :/ I hate Gab and all the nazis they host, but I am troubled about the difficulty in hosting the wider category of unpopular speech.

Gab may have a large number of alt-right conspiracy nuts, but they also have a lot of users who rightfully mock those nutty people. It really is a platform for pure free speech. Unfortunately, its polarization was inevitable as Twitter and Reddit started cracking down on far-right users, leaving only pure free speech websites left for the crazies. But suggesting the website itself condones violence or sympathizes with neo-Nazis isn't accurate.

Per tptacek's comments, the founder does appear to be an asshole, but that doesn't make him a neo-Nazi.

I don't know what "neo-Nazi" means to you, but if you'd like, we can refine our terminology and simply talk about "white supremacists and anti-Semites", at which point if will become very difficult for you to argue that the site doesn't "condone or sympathize with" those forces.

suggesting the website itself condones violence or sympathizes with neo-Nazis isn't accurate.

It's pretty accurate. They sound like Nazis. Take a look at

https://twitter.com/ClenchedFisk/status/1027690034718224384

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1056332670513233920

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1056266704148262912

Ok, I didn't see these. You're right. Whoever controls that Twitter account is definitely very alt-right and possibly sympathizes with Nazis. I take back what I said.

Gab controls Gab's Twitter account. Twitter even gave them a blue checkmark! This isn't a recent thing; there are examples going back for awhile.

"I take back what I said." They tapped out, Citation!

Fuck Gab.

I like this one best of all.

https://mobile.twitter.com/getongab/status/10565833547645214...

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