The Ongoing Death of Free Speech: Prominent ACLU Lawyer Cheers Suppression of a New Book

[Dashinka 24,950]

Apparently Glenn Greenwald is not going away.  Very good piece albeit a longer read, but it makes a lot of sense.

 

The Ongoing Death of Free Speech: Prominent ACLU Lawyer Cheers Suppression of a New Book

 

It is true that workplace censorship does not implicate state censorship, just as it is true that increasing calls for Silicon Valley to exert greater control over our discourse does not implicate the First Amendment (although it might if, as seems likely soon, a Biden/Harris presidential administration pressures tech giants to suppress their critics’ speech).

But it takes little imagination to see that there are other forms of censorship besides state censorship. Corporate censorship is one; workplace and cultural censorship are others. Free speech is a constitutional and legal doctrine, but it’s also a cultural norm and societal value. That has been true ever since the Enlightenment, at least.

Those who doubt the existence of private-sector censorship should imagine a scenario in which Facebook, Google and Twitter all unite tomorrow to announce:

Henceforth, no criticisms of the Republican Party or GOP politicians shall be permitted on our platforms; criticisms of Democrats will still be permitted and spread through heightened algorithms, no matter how harsh or angry.

Few would doubt that free speech values would be severely implicated by such a united policy change from tech giants — regardless of whether one agrees with the recent report from the Democratic-led House Subcommittee concluding that Facebook and Google are classic monopolies.

That censorship occurs not only by state action but also cultural and societal coercion has often been explicitly stated by the ACLU itself. That’s why the civil liberties group has referred to Facebook’s banning of offensive speech as “censorship” (“If Facebook gives itself broader censorship powers, it will inevitably take down important speech and silence already marginalized voices,” the ACLU warned). That censorship includes private-actor suppression is also prominently emphasized on its page aptly entitled “What is Censorship”?

 

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-ongoing-death-of-free-speech

[Ban Hammer 13,704]

it's only free speech when it is the right kind of speech.

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

1 hour ago, Ban Hammer said:

it's only free speech when it is the right kind of speech.

"I feel uncomfortable with people challenging my views! 

 

[spins the identity wheel of victimhood]

 

LGBTQIA25PFJMLMFAO+@4% feels uncomfortable with your freedoms therefore I decree them hereby vacated"

 

*Also cites some abstract right wing authoritarianism justifying their own observed authoritarianism.*

 

What a toxic trash heap. The ACLU's shift is merely a parallel to today's illiberal left.

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

 

 

Social media, and the media, are already in the midst of a shakeup, thanks to these self-defeating efforts of censorship.

 

[Ban Hammer 13,704]

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

12 hours ago, Burnt Reynolds said:

 

 

Social media, and the media, are already in the midst of a shakeup, thanks to these self-defeating efforts of censorship.

 

You should really check out her podcast because it is pretty good if I say so myself