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Trump threatens to 'close' down social media platforms

(techcrunch.com)
707 points patd | 6 comments | 27 May 20 12:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.438s | source | bottom
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jameskilton ◴[27 May 20 13:04 UTC] No.23322518[source]▶
Is no-one going to talk about how this is explicitly what "freedom of speech" means? That Trump is one of the few people that "freedom of speech" doesn't apply, because it's protection FROM HIM doing exactly this kind of thing.

Twitter has every protected right to criticize the president (which they should have been doing a whole lot more of but that's a different discussion). That's the whole point of "freedom of speech" in our Bill of Rights. Our government literally cannot do what Trump wants to do, and to try to say that he can is to explicitly say that the Constitution is meaningless and void.

replies(2): >>23322579 #>>23322907 #
1. happytoexplain ◴[27 May 20 13:10 UTC] No.23322579[source]▶
(I've moved my comment to the intended parent comment): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23322672
replies(1): >>23322652 #
2. zozbot234 ◴[27 May 20 13:15 UTC] No.23322652[source]▶
Except that leftists and libs have their own sort of low-value hateful garbage. Which usually doesn't get censored or "fact-checked" on Twitter.
replies(4): >>23322722 #>>23322736 #>>23322976 #>>23323046 #
3. happytoexplain ◴[27 May 20 13:21 UTC] No.23322722[source]▶
True, but Twitter's hypocrisy doesn't relate to my point. But you're totally justified in that confusion, because my comment that you're replying to somehow ended up on the wrong parent. Here it is in the correct location:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23322672

Edit: To clarify, I'm saying it doesn't relate because my point is that deleting hateful garbage off a private platform isn't censorship, and Twitter should fix their hypocrisy by deleting all hateful garbage with equal veracity, rather than the alternate fix, which would be to allow it all.

4. ◴[27 May 20 13:22 UTC] No.23322736[source]▶
5. shadowgovt ◴[27 May 20 13:39 UTC] No.23322976[source]▶
If Twitter's going to have a fact-checking feature, using it exclusively for Presidents and not the userbase at large feels like a fine use of it.
6. ceejayoz ◴[27 May 20 13:43 UTC] No.23323046[source]▶
> Except that leftists and libs have their own sort of low-value hateful garbage.

Any of similar prominence to the President of the United States?