True, but not all unpopular opinions are treated equally. Like it or not, these social media platforms have become the place where ideas congregate, where humans virtually "assemble," both things that are protected by the first amendment. It's painfully obvious that they shadow ban, or out-right ban proponents of conservative ideals. On the other hand they are businesses, which are free to conduct business any way they choose. I would never condone restrictions on free enterprise. However, when free enterprise are extended certain protections for one reason or another, they should not be allowed to abuse those protections. It was our government that provided them with those protections in the first place, so it's up to us to act when there is abuse.
Would you classify Twitter as a monopoly and/or a publisher? Twitter does not have to vet its content nor are they held liable for their content and I think most people agree that a private company cannot possibly be held liable for everything that its millions of users put out. This would take care of the publisher issue where they're free of liability. Twitter's competitor Facebook doesn't make Twitter a monopoly so I don't believe they're the only platform for users to congregate politically. It's certainly the most popular, but not the only one.
I am more likely to support an effort by our government to educate the public, but that begs the question of where and how? Schools? Colleges? Can we really expect some of the most liberal organizations in this country to support such a conservative notion as freedom of speech? Many of these organizations are directly responsible for political correctness, which is a form of suppression of speech.
Colleges have a responsibility to teach its students open discourse and to engage with ideas that they disagree with. Unfortunately PC culture have turned them into extreme lefty echo chambers where you're considered racist for not going along with the norm. Stories were floating around with professors endorsing violence against conservative speakers when they would do a lecture on campuses. Then there's that time a 5'7 jew set foot on campus at UC Berkley which nearly caused people to burn the campus down:
Ben Shapiro Lecture causes 9 people to be arrested -
https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-berkeley-protest-shapiro-20170914-htmlstory.htmlIt's been a long time since I've been in a class room but I remember taking a critical thinking class in college. However, I don't see many implementing those skills. The most critical thing being ignored by liberals in this particular social media battle is that the shoe could very easily be on the other foot. Imagine if Jack Dorsey was a bible thumping homophobe, shadow banning Planned Parenthood, and transgender-rights groups. We'd have riots in the streets.
I agree for more critical thinking in colleges but it's difficult when any dissent is classified as hate speech. That's the political culture nowadays.
