I’m seeing a WHOLE lot of “slippery slope 1A” fear mongering from the right and shit-libertarian takes. Deplatforming certain accts was necessary after Jan 6th bc suspension and TOU enforcement wouldn’t have mattered bc the disease spread too far.

#thread

What’s really gross is they are using this 1A fear mongering to create false equivalence that BLM, BIPOC, LGBTQA, and non-Christians will suffer “the most” from combating disinformation, hate speech, and not amplifying it on social media.

Anyone taking this nuanced approach has an agenda. Private companies can enforce their TOU as they please. No shirt, no shoes, no service. The only bill being presented is for social media co’s to alter their algorithms so dangerous speech isn’t amplified.

Interest algorithms on social media were originally meant to sell us things from paid advertisers. This algorithm was weaponized in 2014 and has landed us here. Three weeks after an insurrection and failed coup.

Social media companies addressing their algorithms does not hinder your free speech. The people worried about this are worried about their algorithm and amplification being hindered because that’s how they make money.

Choosing to not address disinformation and hate speech or choosing a “lite” version and hoping for kumbaya and “lets just educate them instead of castigate them” has either been asleep the last 5 years or they were simply unaffected by it.

Suggesting to “educate people” at this point when tens of millions believe President Biden isn’t duly elected and another ~10m believe in Q on some level is asinine, disingenuous, & erasure of the years of unpaid emotional labor many of us have spent trying.

I will repeat, anyone taking this stance was:

1) Not measurably affected by the last 5 years (privilege)
2) Has an agenda (unfettered social media amplification and opinion spreading = MONEY)
3) Fear mongering (hidden agenda/questionable motives)