Conservatives face a tough fight as Big Tech's censorship expands

(EXCERPTED) From “shadowbans” on Facebook and Twitter, to demonetization of YouTube videos, to pulled ads for Republican candidates at the critical junctures of election campaigns, the list of violations against the online practices and speech of conservatives is long...

...While nothing about Big Tech's censorship of conservatives truly surprises me anymore, it's still chilling to see the proof for yourself. If it can happen to me, the son of the president, with millions of followers on social media, just think about how bad it must be for conservatives with smaller followings and those who don't have the soapbox or media reach to push back when they're being targeted?

...Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) pointed out that Big Tech companies already enjoy “sweetheart deals” under current regulations that make their malfeasance a matter of public concern. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, for instance, allows them to avoid liability for the content that users post to their platforms...

...Left unchecked, Big Tech and liberal activists could construct a private “social credit” system — not unlike what the communists have nightmarishly implemented in China — that excludes outspoken conservatives from wide swaths of American life simply because their political views differ from those of tech executives.

There is no conservative principle that even remotely suggests we are obligated to adopt a laissez-faire attitude while the richest companies on earth abuse the power we give them to put a thumb on the scale for our political enemies.

If anything, our love of the free market dictates that we must do whatever is necessary to ensure that the free marketplace of ideas remains open to all.

Had to think about that for a bit - it's been a while. Don't recall there being any one singular cause, but a number of factors. It was originally a site for musicians and music oriented people to gather and strut their multimedia stuff, and it accelerated into a full-blown social gathering place from there. Constraining cashflow & bandwidth - which are interconnected of course - with the expanded popularity and flexibility of the platform made it a victim of its own success. It wasn't cross-connected to pull in revenue from all over (like Facebook does), there weren't ads plastered all around the corners - just your stuff on the pages, and that was it. I recall during the decline there were some things that were getting more restricted & cut back, but can't remember exactly what all it was. Meanwhile Facebook was getting touted as the new "thing" to be a part of - I remember taking a look around that and going "bleah" - had as much character and excitement as a blank sheet of paper. And yet people jumped right into it, probably because there was no other widely known comparable alternative to migrate over to at the time. That's all I can come up with off the top of my head though there might be some FReepers around here who would have better detail and recollection than I do.

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