Protect Free Speech in the Digital Public Square
Created by W.C. on August 28, 2018
The internet is the modern public square. It is where political campaigns are fought and won, where journalism is created and distributed, and where grassroots movements are born. Yet, the free and open internet has become a controlled, censored space, monopolized by a few unaccountable corporations.
By banning users from their platforms, those corporations can effectively remove politically unwelcome Americans from the public square. That is repugnant to our shared values of free speech and freedom of the press.
The President should request that Congress pass legislation prohibiting social media platforms from banning users for First Amendment-protected speech. The power to block lawful content should be in the hands of individual users – not Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/protect-free-speech-digital-public-square-0
I’m never for government action against private enterprise, but I guess one could compare it to telephone companies. They can’t cut off someone’s phone just because they don’t like their politics. I saw in Sweden the tech companies are taking down all anti-mass immigration parties communications just before their election.