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Comment by smokey_circles | Hacker News Reader

Freedom of speech is not freedom from social consequence. It doesn't apply to private institutions. Ever. End of discussion.

What should be discussed is whether or not Twitter and Facebook have crossed into the "public utility" domain. I mean, twitter literally facilitate and handover a POTUS account that reaches hundreds of millions of you Americans.

It feels like Americans won't do that though because the idea of talking to the other side is unimaginable.

But twitter and facebook have incredible power over the public, and I don't think it's crazy to suggest a regulator

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I think what people don’t really get is that Facebook, Twitter, etc are basically broadcast mediums. They’re not really individual communication tools, nor are they just public utilities like phone lines or internet services.

Instead in many ways they’ve replaced TV for how many people receive news and information about the world. One or few people are able to broadcast information to millions and even billions.

If we look back to the role of the FCC for example, we see the concept of Broadcast licenses. These licenses have also come with content restrictions notwithstanding the First Amendment which have held up in court. On top of that you’ve also had the FCC established rules that limited national shares of broadcast ownership in order to ensure diversification in media.

All of this has suddenly been sidestepped online, and it seriously needs a rethink ASAP.

I'd argue here that they're basically the public square of our time, just that law is slow to move here.

the difference between a government and a private institution is just the amount of power they have. There are places in the world run by unrecognized militia, who of course do censor free speech when they can. It's still censorship, although they are not "true governments". So, if we have a monopoly (oligopoly) on the control over flow of information by big tech, this is effectively censorship. And if the laws don't apply to them formally, then maybe there should be new laws for that.

They are part of the public domain, but there is no oversight to their power and little public recourse.

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