Why did Instagram ban hashtags like #vaccinescauseautism in the first place? I mean is there any other reason than to look good in the eyes of others?
There is also a lot of pressure on the Facebooks and Googles of the world to censor things. Politicians and traditional media are the big abusers here (and it always feels like it's motivated by self-interest rather than the greater good). I think these companies should push back, and they probably want to (it's expensive to be the police), but when Congress threatens to investigate, what choice do you have but to do what they say? It's unconstitutional to make a law about what you can and can't say on the Internet, but it's not unconstitutional to say "hey, maybe censor some stuff and we won't look too hard into what taxes you're paying".
I have a surefire solution to the problems of fake news, anti-vaxxing, etc. Give every American a world-class science education for free, and this problem solves itself in a generation. Nobody wants to pay for that, though, so instead we blame Instagram. It's cheaper and we feel like we're doing something.
I don't think that's true. In fact there are various categories of speech that aren't protected and the category of false medical claims appears to be in a grey area.
Look, I don't want to defend these people, but any limitations on the first amendment are not what's going to bring this movement to an end.
Interestingly, the precedent-setting case was with a guy distributing pamphlets persuading people not to enlist for WW1 which doesn't seem remotely close to any of these scenarios.
The real reason why it's a moot point, though, is that no government would have the political will to legislate on something as divisive as this.
https://www.popehat.com/2015/05/19/how-to-spot-and-critique-...