#Facebook bans Ron Paul for criticizing censorship, then pretends it was a mistake when the media noticed.
Make no mistake. This isn't about the idiots that stormed the Capitol or even those who protested but stayed outside.
We don't have to like what people are saying to recognize the threat this wave of expulsions poses to all of us.
For one thing, the axe that crushes opponents' skulls today will be just as damaging to former allies tomorrow.
For another, political ascendancy swings back and forth. When it swings again, people who've been disconnected from online life may decide that Trump was right about Section 230, which protects even the smallest multiuser instances.
can't take anyone seriously that thinks this: "Banning the president of the United States was shocking."
With regards to your commentary, I am not sure I agree with the idea that Facebook blocking people is a threat to us at all. I understand the sentiment, but for us specifically, in the fediverse, it is one of the best things that could happen, at least in the short term.
The Section 230 implications are potentially interesting.
@musicman It wasn't shocking, I agree. He broje their rules regularly. They were trying to wait until he was out of office, but the events of 2021-01-06 motivated them to strike now.
@musicman Facebook has a monopoly in multiple segments of the online socnet market. There is a long history of either regulating or breaking up such monoplies, but even the current lawsuits wouldn't do that. At their market share, they should either become a regulated utility or broken up.
Those who actively planned or participated in the attacks are & should be deplatformed and prosecuted. Those who broke their ToS should also be removed, but they've gone beyond that. My concern is that they now have precedent to excise whole points of view that are legal to hold and express.
Now, I'd likely expel similar viewpoints from here, but we're nowhere near a monopoly.
In my view, web market percentages are incomparable to brick and mortal market percentages. I suspect that point at which we diverge on this. I'll just leave it at that, because I don't think the case law has addressed this yet.
If Facebook wants to stay out of anti-trust issues, tying an account to the Occulus 2 was certainly not a good move...