Why don't you stop abusing the term disinformation when you really mean information that you don't like? You're not listening to me, which is fine, I don't need you to, I just need everybody else to not to listen to you either.
The part you're missing is that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act grants liability protection to online publications provided that they remain open platforms that do not discriminate against contributors based on their political and religious beliefs. Twitter and Facebook have violated this agreement by censoring conservatives on their publication and have included terms of service that restrict political beliefs in ways that the SCOTUS has deemed to be unlawful censorship in other instances. By Congress continuing to grant these social media publishers that restrict the political beliefs of their contributors they have made a law that abridges the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. The law that Congress has passed that has violated the freedom of speech is Section 230 of the Communications Act because Congress has misapplied it to cover these social media publishers when it should not. Maybe you think that this is irrelevant, but Ted Cruz does not, and he is fighting for your right to the freedom of speech and mine whether you like him or not.
If Twitter or Facebook were to do as you say and ban all conservatives or ban President Trump they would be even more clearly out of scope for Section 230 liability protections. If Congress did not immediately suspend the section 230 protections that they currently extend to Twitter they would be even more clearly violating the First Amendment then they already are. Twitter and Facebook could ban all conservatives and give up their section 230 protections but then any Tweet or any Facebook post that contains misinformation made by any contributor to their publication would open them up to liability like any other publisher which would destroy their business so they probably don't want to do that. Right now these companies are walking a fine line trying to have their cake and eat it too by banning conservatives while still enjoying illegally obtained section 230 liability protection from Congress. This must end if we are going to remain a nation that champions the free exchange of ideas online.
Your suggestion that President Trump should be banned from Twitter clearly demonstrates that you have no respect for the freedom of speech anyway. You don't care about political speech that isn't coming from someone on your side of the political spectrum and would rather do away with it. That's fine, as long as you and your ilk remain in the electoral minority.
You are the one who isn’t listening. So listen up: the First Amendment has nothing to do with private platforms. Twitter, Facebook etc can ban every Democratic tweet or post, or every Republican tweet/post if they so choose. THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
Your right to free speech under the Constitution means the government can’t regulate speech. A private publishing platform, however, can do whatever it wants. A Democratic post or poster can be banned or removed just as a Republican post or user can be. No one has a right to post whatever they want. Twitter decides. Facebook decides. Reddit and 4chan and 8chan decide. And Apple decides what they want to allow on the App Store.
Those are facts. Not my opinion. You may not like it, but that’s irrelevant. If you want the Constitution changed, there’s a process to do that. It is what it is, and it doesn’t give any internet rando the right to say whatever they want wherever they want.
MacRumors decides if what you say is allowed and if what I say is allowed. Period. You have no right to ”free speech” here, on Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else. Your right to free speech means the government can't decide what you say or don’t say.
Of course, there are limits. For instance, it’s often said you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater. You can’t make threats against others. You can’t libel or slander private individuals.
No right is absolute, and even Constitutional rights have some limits. But you have no right to any speech at all on private platforms. None. You may not like it, but that’s just tough. You don’t have to like it 🤷♂️
And yes, I would like Trump and all other Russian propagandists to be banned from all social media. And all non-Russian propagandists too, for that matter. Social media isn’t required to let them spread their disinformation so easily.
PS Nobody cares about “liability protection” so you can drop the section 230 talking point. No one cares. If you think those platforms have lost their “liability protection”, feel free to file suit against them.
