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Comment by j4nt4b | Hacker News Reader

I think that Twitter and Facebook are a lot closer to the United States Postal Service than they are to McDonald's. Imagine getting banned from sending/receiving mail and having your home or business address "delisted" by a private company, and then you get closer to what is going on.

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If you get banned from Twitter, you can go to Facebook, just like if you get banned from McDonald's you can go to Burger King.

If you make a habit of shitting in the dining rooms, you'll likely find yourself banned from all the restaurants eventually.

The false equivalence between the right to due process in accessing the world's de-facto global communication platform and eating junk food is honestly sickening to me. The power to say anything you want to anybody in the world has fundamentally different consequences for every society on Earth than the power to slowly poison yourself in the colorfully branded plastic seat of your choosing.

> the world's de-facto global communication platform

Sorry, was that Twitter? Or Facebook?

It's kinda hard to argue it's a monopoly when I can't figure out which one you're referring to and you're saying "Twitter and Facebook".

Meanwhile, this is why the USPS isn't a great comparison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Express_Statutes

If the person you responded to had said "monopoly," your comment would only be pedantic (and maybe bad faith), but they didn't say that - it's easy to argue with a straw man. Don't demean yourself.

If your problem is the power and reach that these companies have, then fix that problem. Break them up; mandate open communications protocols; create a gov't-owned communications platform. Destroying UGC on the Internet, or passing blatantly unconstitutional laws, isn't going to fix the problem.

The USPS is

1. A government organization

2. An essential service

3. A de facto monopoly in many rural areas that are not profitable for private companies to serve.

Facebook/Twitter are none of these things.

HN: Facebook and Twitter are a stupid, pointless waste of time and you should delete your account and leave those platforms.

Also HN: Facebook and Twitter are essential services and banning people from Facebook and Twitter is a fundamental violation of their human rights.

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