For god sake, allow reddit to have free-speech and don't censor the voices of "silent majority" in the USA.
P.S 60M American citizens voted for Trump.
There's even an open source core with which to start from: https://github.com/reddit-archive/reddit
Is there a valid reason for that? No. Is the end result of there being no law forcing financial and manufacturers of modern printing presses like those to do business with everyone a threat to the First Amendment? Absolutely, and I'd argue the state has a compelling interest here to force them.
Until that changes, "just build your own platform" isn't helpful.
Payment processors are not required; you can accept physical checks or digital currency such as Bitcoin without involving a third party processor. A bank isn't allowed to close your account unless you do something illegal, so aren't you safe there?
Modern day conveniences like AWS and Stripe are just that - conveniences. You can do what they do on your own. If you manage to find enough paying customers, then there is nothing stopping you from becoming your own manufacturer or payment processor. If you cannot find enough paying customers (in the form of subscriptions or donations), then arguably there is no reason for you to exist anyways.
To date I have never heard of anyone having their Internet cut off because their ISP did not like their political views. I am pretty sure neonazis are welcome to use all ISPs, from Comcast to Cox.
Even if it's your bank account, you're still using a payment processor. Even if that's your bank, they can also decide not to do business with you.
>To date I have never heard of anyone having their Internet cut off because their ISP did not like their political views. I am pretty sure neonazis are welcome to use all ISPs, from Comcast to Cox.
Google what happened to Stormfront. Not that I agree with their views, but their ISPs, registrars, etc. told them to pound sand.
Promotion of hatred is not egging on mass shootings. Inciting violence is indeed illegal, but they were not taken offline due to that.
>They were not banned for being racists; they were banned for being killers.
Incorrect. They were not taken offline due to a order/warrant/etc. They were taken offline because it was politically expedient for their services providers to.
This is the exact same reasoning letter by letter that was used against rock'n'roll at that time by republicans. They also didn't use state censorship, just private companies executing their rights. Just saying.
The point is that censorship was executed with the help of private corporations to circumvent the societal contract to allow freedom of speech, which includes art/music.
We are clearly leaving *63M+ people in USA when we make content moderation choices which are left-friendly. I'm not into talking politics. I wish these platforms allow freedom of speech which was one of the founding principles in early days of Internet.
Let's not be silly here, these platforms were clearly built by folks seeking to generate profit, otherwise they would all be non profits. Any ideologies expressed by their founders or corporate marketing are only a byproduct of what is "in" culturally, because that is what makes more money.
> We are clearly leaving *63M+ people in USA when we make content moderation choices which are left-friendly
Only in America are these choices seen as "left-friendly." In the rest of the Western world, they are seen as "reasonable."
I actually do agree that Twitter moderation has a problem with conservative thinking. I think that they should drop the pretense that they exist to cater everyone and be more clear in their rules as to what type of speech will get you kicked out of the circle. We all know Twitter is an echo chamber; the least it could do is make you aware of it instead of leading you on into thinking all of your ideas will be accepted by the system.
63 million.
...and 66 million voted for Clinton, and 8 million voted for third party, write in, or independent candidates.