Maybe Not A Free Speech Violation But Certainly Questionable Customer Service
President Trump has been banned from Twitter.
The justification is not so much over what he said but rather that his words might incite what assorted social media platforms categorize as violence.
Yet nothing as drastic has been done to curtail actual tyrants, terrorists, and activist vandals for utilizing the technology to foment deceptive propaganda and to even coordinate assaults against property and infrastructure.
It is reminded that First Amendment protections of speech don't apply because technically social media is not government.
Maybe so.
But it cannot be denied that, like government, these organizational structures possess the disturbing potential to cripple the individual that dares to express an ideology at odds with that professed by these executives that wield more actual power than even many high ranking politicians.
At the very least, these services ought to be accused of an offense similar to false advertising.
For while it might not rise to the level worthy of legal intervention, there is something inherently wrong about creating the impression that you are providing the individual the opportunity to speak whatever it is that is on their mind and then snatch that precious opportunity away when what is said is not what the corporatists wanted to hear.
As a gesture of the respect and civility an increasing number claim to be demanding, it should be clarified what exactly what “community standard” was violated by the alleged thought criminal.
Frederick Meekins is an independent theologian and social critic. Frederick holds a BS in Political Science/History, a MA in Apologetics/Christian Philosophy from Trinity Theological Seminary, and a PhD. in Christian Apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary.
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