https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/ ... 944994001/
Here's a primary premise in the piece:
My question is, how accurate is the premise in real terms? Do we really believe that Facebook has that much influence over the independent thought of billions of people around the world? I looked up some stats. Facebook accounts for 60 percent of social media visits in the U.S. in January 2021. According to one study, about 36% of U.S. adults said they regularly accessed Facebook to get the news.What content the company suppresses or amplifies changes the flow of information, opinion formation and the nature of independent thought around the world for billions of people at a time.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/12/study ... -facebook/
What does this really tell us? A lot of people use Facebook, sure. But don't a lot of people use other sources as well? How many of those 36% who get news from Facebook also access other sources on the internet for news?
But here's a key issue for me: Facebook owns the servers, the infrastructure, and the brand that is their social media web site. Do they have a right to manage their own property? Do they have a right to exclude people from using it if they want? How is it different from a grocery store kicking someone off their property and not letting them back in?
Another key issue is this - don't people who get banned from Facebook have a ton of alternatives for speech? President Trump just set up his own blog/platform to keep putting out statements. Before that, he was doing press releases and giving speeches. Does free speech mean he gets to force a company to carry his message when they don't want to, even if he has other means of spreading that message? If yes, where does that lead? Can a newspaper be forced to print a letter to the editor? Do people get to force CNN or Fox to cover certain stories? If a person owns a donut shop can you force them to let you put a flyer up on their wall?
In the end, doesn't this all come down to individual liberty? I'm free to use or not use Facebook. The people who own Facebook are free to do what they want with it. But if I could force Facebook to post my messages, doesn't that infringe on their liberty?