Platforms like Twitter have become de facto utilities. They should be prevented from censoring anything that is not breaking the law, which means filtering tweets on a per country basis to comply with national laws, nothing less, nothing more.
No, they have not.
I cannot live without water or electricity; perhaps also a general Internet connection (in the modern world). I live my life just fine without Twitter.
Twitter is an online service that some people find useful and others ignore completely. There is nothing utility-like about it.
Social media have been key to political campaigning in the last 10 years or so. This made headlines in relations to the Brexit referendum in the UK and it had made headlines after Obama's first presidential campaign which was a pioneer.
If you're not on social media you're toast.
[1] https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-social-media...
Also, coverage of Trump by the mainstream media was likely far more effective than social media at getting him elected. If nothing else, it provided the material that got spread across social media.
Obama's victory was due in large part to social media as well, but not due to Obama's personal accounts.
For the current definition of "modern".
In the 1800s then-modern political campaigns were fought and won in newspapers and pamphlets.
Pre-WW2 then-modern political campaigns were fought and won on the radio.
Post-WW2 then-modern political campaigns were fought and won on television.
None of those were treated as public utilities AFAICT, so I'm not why the medium of communication now suddenly makes a difference (Marshal McLuhan notwithstanding).
As I said, Twitter and other major platforms have become de facto utilities and it's no longer a valid argument to claim that as private businesses they are free to do as they please because they yield too much power.
The free speech advocates really confuse free speech (in the global sense not just the American amendment) with saying anything
Free speech isn’t freedom to plan a drug deal or anything or illegal
There are definitely unenforced laws regarding harassment but they fall into the illegal category
Where it’s interesting is silencing say a pro Russia person or an anti vax person
What Twitter could do is just stop promoting and spreading content people don’t like. Rather than completely ban problem users like trump, just stop showing them in trending feeds and give people the option to block the users so you don’t see them.
Isn't this censorship?
There's also content that is regarded by mental health experts as harmful in large quantities - downranking that is also important to not cause existential harm to people.
I think that the governments should treat social media platforms similarly to other addictive/harmful substances, such as junk food, sugary drinks or tobacco... with a focus on prevention and education.
And using these platforms for official communication (from elected officials and public services) should be either prohibited or heavily discouraged.