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Why Donald Trump Is Suing Big Tech (wsj.com)
8 points by psim1 on July 8, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments


Of course Trump didn't write it himself. There are good arguments and examples in there.

I think this example is particular important:

> Jennifer Horton, a Michigan schoolteacher, was banned from Facebook for sharing an article questioning whether mandatory masks for young children are healthy. Later, when her brother went missing, she was unable to use Facebook to get the word out.

Facebook is not just a place where people post opinions, it serves a basic utility function in the current society. It truly is an important way for people to get help. After social media made themselves important services in the modern life, they become common carriers as smart phone companies and land lines.



Stop posting this. It is wrong. Read this first: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27762145

Page 35:

> “Requiring someone to host another person’s speech is often a perfectly legitimate thing for the Government to do.” So wrote Justice Breyer, and the cases he cited (PruneYard and Rumsfeld), as well as Turner, fully support that view. PruneYard expressly rejected the claim “that a private property owner has a First Amendment right not to be forced by the State to use his property as a forum for the speech of others.” Turner and Rumsfeld rejected similar claims.


> Stop posting this. It is wrong.

It may be wrong but it sure feels good to post a cartoon as a snarky response rather than having a reasoned discussion.


Unless Trump is challenging the terms of service that he had to agree to when getting his account, this is largely a non-issue. Trump _agreed_ that Facebook/Twitter could ban him whenever he crossed their usage policy, which they can alter at any time.

Essentially, Trump agreed that they had the right to ban him before he posted anything to their services.

So sure, the government may be able to force people to host things they don't want to, but I don't think the government will force anybody to break a contract that both parties agreed to in this case.




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