The “Repeal Section 230” Narrative is Being Pushed by Silicon Valley, Don’t Fall For It

News.Gab.com ^ | October 16, 2020 | Andrew Torba

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Andrew Torba is the founder of Gab.com.

[Zhang Fei]

[The President can and should trust bust the Big Tech monopolies, in particular Apple and Google’s duopoly on mobile app distribution along with Facebook and Google’s duopoly on online advertising and search. The only big reason he hasn’t is because Big Tech stocks make up a significant portion of the stock market growth he likes to tout. ]

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When AT&T became the Baby Bells, did combined market cap go down? No - it skyrocketed. I do agree, however, that Trump’s unwillingness to go after these companies using the courts, rather than just tweets, was a mistake.

[Shadow44]

I've been saying this for months. Repealing 230 would just formalize everything they are doing. What we need is an Internet Bill of Rights applying 1st Amendment protections to the digital public square.

Repealing Section 230 was a red herring intentionally planted to sidetrack discussion of preventing what is now happening.

[Bayard]

I wouldn’t trust the current government to regulate anything in this current climate right now that does not in some way screw the American people.

[dfwgator]

Isn’t it funny that the people cheering shutting down Trump in Twitter and shutting down Parler, were all for Net Neutrality?

[sauropod]

.

[otness_e]

“I do agree, however, that Trump’s unwillingness to go after these companies using the courts, rather than just tweets, was a mistake.”

In all fairness, even if he DID attempt to use the courts to go after those companies, do you REALLY think the courts, especially when they’re staffed by Obama holdovers, are going to follow through with what Trump wants to do?

[dadfly]

yeah. they’re for 230, right torba. that’s why the fought so hard against it two weeks ago.

[Swiffer_Ralf]

Screw it, do an EO relating to terroristic, insurrectionist, and related assistance to distort and hide the truth of said efforts thus being guilty of terrorist aiding and abetting...

You are to be shut off from this moment forward and all assets to be forget by previous EO.

All financial and personal assets of those owners, shareholders, employees and contractors globally shall also be seized.

That is all.

[The MAGA-Deplorian]

Lol! Brilliant!

[aimhigh]

Big corporations love regulations, because small businesses struggle with them.

[Zhang Fei]

[In all fairness, even if he DID attempt to use the courts to go after those companies, do you REALLY think the courts, especially when they’re staffed by Obama holdovers, are going to follow through with what Trump wants to do?]

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The GOP had a 5-4 Supreme Court majority through the entire 4 years of Trump’s tenure.

[patriot torch]

“If you build it, they will come.” - Terence Mann

[otness_e]

Yeah, and that 5-4 supreme court majority didn’t help regarding stopping voter fraud.

[dynachrome]

Why, yes, we need the “fairness” doctrine back./s

[Zhang Fei]

[Yeah, and that 5-4 supreme court majority didn’t help regarding stopping voter fraud.]

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Any number of lawyers here on Free Republic have said that the Trump administration failed to make its case. The problem is the time limit - just over a month. Trump knew it had no chance, so he spent the least amount of money he could, hiring the equivalent of public defenders to make his case. Whereas he had 4 years to make an antitrust case, on the government’s dime.

As I’ve said elsewhere, Trump set up these election challenges, while hiring the lowest-cost, most incompetent lawyers in the nation, to get set up for another run. If he weren’t running again, he’d have conceded from the git-go. He *knew* there was no way he could prevail, and therefore chose to use this pivotal moment as a fund-raising opportunity, as well as a chance to create a bloody shirt meme he could use in 2024’s campaign. Easier to fund-raise now, when the crime - unprovable in the limited time frame available - was fresh in everyone’s minds. Also what better time to sear the memory of the steal in the psyches of his supporters, when the printer’s ink on the fraudulent ballots might not even have cured? I think it’s a brilliant strategy, health permitting.

In case you’re wondering, Trump has raised hundreds of millions*, while spending a few million on lawyers. That’s a huge 2024 campaign war chest ready to go. And if he runs, his name alone will psych out all potential GOP challengers. Anyone who beats him in the primaries is guaranteed to lose in the general** since, at minimum, 10% of the GOP vote will stay home or vote for the other guy just to stick it to the Judas. And that’s not just for that election, but in *any* future election. Which is why no serious GOP contender will challenge Trump.

* That small-dollar fund-raising prowess is unheard of, for a political candidate who just lost an election. Ask Hillary what happened to her fund-raising ability after she lost in 2016. Millions of people struggling under the weight of pandemic-shutdown and -recession related financial stress shelled out to help Trump get over this hump. GOP pols recognize this, which is why only one House member, Kinzinger, and one Senator, Romney have joined the impeachment drive.

** And not just in the general. Whatever GOP seat he’s currently occupying is toast in the next election, since Trump voters will remember all the bad things he said about Trump during the presidential primaries, and repay him in kind.

[Zhang Fei]

[Yeah, and that 5-4 supreme court majority didn’t help regarding stopping voter fraud.]

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BTW, Trump’s challenges are a brilliant answer to the eternal question asked of election losers since probably forever.

Q: Why are you running again, you loser?
A: Because it was stolen from me. I expected some degree of fraud, and prepped for that, but they amped the deceit and finagling up to 11 on a 10 point scale. You need a no holds-barred street fighter like me to win in 2024.

[Zhang Fei]

I know that among Trump’s supporters, there are any number of shibboleths about how Trump is very, very smart. It’s not just a throwaway remark. If he hadn’t devoted his life towards running various businesses, there’s a reasonable chance Trump could have been an accomplished egghead. It certainly runs in the family:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Trump

Now, he’s not clairvoyant, and he is human. But don’t take any of the surface stuff at face value*. Some of it is kayfabe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe, which is what many of the outsiders who deal personally with him can’t wrap their heads around. Professional pols do some kayfabe. Trump does extreme kayfabe, to the point many pols think of him as un-presidential. Has there ever been a president who talked like a pro wrestling emcee? He really cracks me up.

* Note that I think Q is a little overwrought, and neither follow him nor believe any of his assertions.

[Mr. N. Wolfe]

Interesting.

[TBP]

Forget Section 230. Follow the lead of Poland. They’re passing a law fining social media companies $2.2 million each time they ban lawful speech.

Then prohibit social media companies and search engines from surveilling and tracking their customers and prohibit them from owning more than one platform (such as Facebook owning Instagram.)