My friend blocked me for using the Thin Blue Line flag.

Right, but at what point do we force social media to apply negative rights to their users in the interest of fairness? At what point do we declare Twitter and Facebook a public utility, and require them to respect the 1st? At what point, in the interest of fairness, do we become certain other nations, who have coopted their social media to define and codify not just law, but also philosophy? And in doing so, how much power are we giving these private organizations by making them official arms of the government by proxy?

I understand that people have legitimate grievances against the state of social media. Those of you who are regulars here or know me might remember that I myself have issues with how they run their business model, and how powerful they're becoming even against world governments.

But that's just how our system works. Yes, it's incredibly unfair on a personal level for you that your voice is silenced while others lie. I don't have an answer. I don't think it can be changed without opening a thousand other cans of worms regarding who can and can't say what on social media, at which point it does become a policing of philosophy.

What is clear, however, is that America needs to start thinking about the answer to those questions, and needs to think fast. Social media isn't getting weaker. It's not going anywhere.

/r/ProtectAndServe Thread Parent