Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Last I checked usernames aren't a public good. You're part of a social network and they get to set the policy. I'd count this as "strong-armed into this". The giants want all the benefits of being public spaces with none of the responsibilities. To use their (US) constitutional right to free speech to sell any ad they want, while using their power (as a private corporation) to ban (or algorithmically censor) unwant…
>To use their (US) constitutional right to free speech to sell any ad they want First I've heard of this, in what case was free speech used to justify a right to show a specific ad? >while using their power (as a private corporation) to ban (or algorithmically censor) unwanted speech It's actually the opposite, they justify being a public forum for free spech in order NOT to be liable for vetting and publishing the c…
All of them? This is pretty much the default case. If Meta or Google or whoever say "we don't want to show this ad", they're allowed to, it's fine, they're not a public (/government) space who has to follow the 1st's requirement to not-censor.
My point is Meta and Google (I assume others but they're the big ones), want to be treated as an entity with first amendment rights, rather than one with first amendment responsibilities, even though they're also trying to position themselves as mandatory or the only space (that matters).
> It's actually the opposite, they justify being a public forum for free spech in order NOT to be liable for vetting and publishing the content, they want to be considered a neutral intermediary, not a publisher liable in any way for whatever is published.
Sounds like you're talking about section 230; I read there's a lot of misinformation about that. Apparently what it really does is protect (at least some subset of) "good faith" filtering like spam filters. However, what a lot of people today object to is under the (painfully vague to all us software nerds) title of "the algorithm", which is basically editorialising for maximum user engagement/addiction.
Anywho, here's a quick search result of one example where they were found to be "that's fine" for terminating ad campaigns:
https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/04/tulsi-gabbard-google-free-...
And here's one where the courts say, if my understanding of the summary is correct, "Meta is not a state actor normally but sometimes can be": https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/21...