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Originally Posted by Ostfriese
I guess that's correct, but in which way is that change relevant? Previously twitter was a civilian company that had given out stocks, so effectively it was privately owned (opposed to "owned in parts or in total by the government").
Of course Twitter was and is allowed to restrict whatever they want, it's got nothing to do with August's "beating someone up".
That's exactly my point. Now keep in mind that since Musk has taken over the amount of racist, sexist and anti-semitic content (as well as any other hate speech) has dramatically increased - because people on the right believe that "free speech" means that they can make those comments WITHOUT having to fear the consequences you just mentioned.
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In this case the difference between a private co. and a publicly traded one is before, twitter was profit driven (the board of directors answered to the stockholder) ie: the main focus was increasing stock value & market share.
now, twitter is owned by a finite group of likeminded investors (you have to be invited to invest), nor do they have to file financial disclosure documents with the SEC. (could very well be Elon Musk is looking to use twitter as a tax shelter).
The way I see it, the brouhaha over free speech (who gets banned & why) on twitter is nothing more than a tempest in a teacup. Consider this, of the top 20 rated social media platforms (rated by number of users), twitter comes in at #16 w/ 346 million users. the top 3, Facebook, YouTube & WhatsApp have 2.9B, 2.5B, 2B (respectively). The real question that needs to be answered is how cozy were politicians and social media were with each other.
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That's basically just a different wording for what I wrote. Yes, if this was a court and everyone around here was a lawyer I'd see your point, but this is still subsim, isn't it?
(before you drag me into fine-print legal talk please keep in mind that English is not my native language, and I already hate fine-print legal talk in German.)
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Not to belabor the point, but it is not the same thing, Here in the U.S., it is the people who decide what is free speech and what is not.
For example: Expressing antisemitism in Germany can get you a jail sentence. In the U.S., it will get you ostracized but no jail unless you take it further.
It may seem the same, but there is definitely a difference.