Free Speech means...

@SumKindaMunster Exactly. I don't understand all that brouhaha.

@helenS Nobody cared when it was right wing commenters and social media sites getting torched, but now that a left wing safe space has been taken over by some goofy libertarian billionaire, people literally want him investigated for the changes he is making to a private company that he bought fair and square.

@SumKindaMunster Actually the only person with a right to free speech is the owner. He can silence anyone he wants to. Likewise, I can kick out from my house anyone I don't like.

@helenS You see that several Democrat Senators sent a letter to the FTC to investigate him...?

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/democratic-senators-send-ftc-letter-urging-investigation-twitter

@SumKindaMunster Very much an American absurdity
Kind Regards from Europe 😏

@helenS Oh boy, another European who thinks their way of life and political system is better...where do you hail from specifically?

@SumKindaMunster I don't think our way of life is any better... just different.

@helenS I see. And would you care to tell me where you hail from or should I just drop it?

@SumKindaMunster It's a rural area in Central Europe – let's leave it at that ok?

@helenS Sure, thank you.

@SumKindaMunster [quote]It's a private company and he can do whatever he wants.
"Free speech" does not mean you can just say whatever you want, that just protects you from the government.[/quote]

I've never agreed with this, even if some liberals do.

@Burnley123 You guys are welcome to Twitter, its all yours gov'nor.

I am reveling in schadenfreude, I am very much appreciating the meltdown people are having over this. It warms my dark, evil heart. 🤣

@SumKindaMunster [quote] You guys[/quote]

There is no 'you guys.'

I don't think private corporations should be the arbiters of free speech, whether it's Musk or the moderate liberals who ran it before. Big tech companies have such a monopoly that they are mostly immune from competition. They should be considered utilities.

Why should billionaires get to dictate the boundaries of public discourse just because they have deep pockets>

@Burnley123 Hm, did you make these points when Parler was being taken down after pressure from the US Government? That was specifically Apple and Google who did that.

How about when Trump got kicked off Twitter? Or Kanye West? Or Milo Yiannopoulos?

Now that some goofy libertarian bought Twitter and is letting a lot of undesirables on, now you care about this? Am I getting the timing correct?

@SumKindaMunster He's hardly 'goofy' when he's fired most if the workers. Megalomaniac is more accurate.

Apple and Google enforce t&c because the want to protect their brands from reputational damage, not because they are Marxist.

Social media should be regulated by aj independent watchdog. Billionaires should not decide.

@Burnley123 [quote]He's hardly 'goofy' when he's fired most if the workers. Megalomaniac is more accurate.[/quote]

Perhaps, I am offering my opinion of the man and the situation. He's just a rich egoist. It sounds like you have been indoctrinated to believe something malevolent about him.

[quote]Apple and Google enforce t&c because the want to protect their brands from reputational damage, not because they are Marxist.
[/quote]

Fuck that, you don't know what you are talking about. They were pressured by the US Government to remove Parler from their ecosystem. Full stop. It wasn't their decision, they acted at the behest of the US government.

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/how-silicon-valley-in-a-show-of-monopolistic

[quote]Social media should be regulated by aj independent watchdog. Billionaires should not decide.[/quote]

Oh independent watchdog huh? And who gets to decide who that is? You? The government?

There is no such thing.

It sounds to me you are all for free speech when it agrees with you, then suddenly it's problematic and needs to be investigated or shut down when the speech doesn't line up with what you already believe.