> before it cuts someone off from what is becoming a vital service
Facebook is not a vital service. Popularity doesn't determine what is and is-not vital, nor does it remove the rights of a private business.
Facebook is not a vital service. Popularity doesn't determine what is and is-not vital, nor does it remove the rights of a private business.
Interestingly, it will surely be what you dislike so what is your point?
If facebook becomes public utility I want to be able to regulate speech on it with my tax money. If it's private, I dont care if it tries to regulate harmful speech the way it wants as long as it doesnt impact where my tax money is going (so I dont want to pay for girls empowerement to have facebook massively undermining it by letting sheikhs explain the youth how to beat their unruly wives)
What makes you think you should be able to do that? Do you get to cut off someone's water utility if they say something you don't like?
Coming soon to a Hell on Earth near you.
Then, pray tell, what does? It is the assumption that these services are used that turns them into important infrastructure.
Everyone just assumes you have a bank account or a telephone, and that makes both bank accounts and telephones desirable, we wouldn't invest ungodly amounts of money in infrastructure on roads, traffic lights etc if automobiles weren't popular and they surely wouldn't be if we didn't have the infrastructure.
WhatsApp is. Everyone in my country uses it. Not even a judge can get away with blocking WhatsApp as punishment for encrypting messages because the consequences are too great.
It's not as cut and dry as you're making it out to be.
This is pretty cut and dry. Dom't build your business on top of another business, for which you have no contract.
There are plenty of alternatives, from Shopify to Etsy. None of which require a FB presence.
I don't use facebook myself, but it's pretty hard to deny that they hold a vital position in the market. You can avoid them out of principle, but you're not setting yourself up for an easy start.