Trump threatens to 'close' down social media platforms

Wasn’t it Voltaire who said “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”?

Nonetheless, this is pretty much par for the course for what the world has come to expect.

Edit: It turns out that though phrase is often attributed to Voltaire, it was actually Evelyn Beatrice Hall, as noted by the poster below, to whom I am grateful for the correction.

Actually, no, turns out it was Evelyn Beatrice Hall[0].

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Beatrice_Hall

Thanks, I stand corrected.

Would he defend your right to say it in his living room, though?

(Let's also not lose sight of the fact that Trump hasn't even had his tweets deleted or censored in any fashion. Just a note added underneath.)

Clearly broadcast and social media are a new occurrence that needs to be factored into the discussion somehow, and if you were to argue that applying Enlightenment political theory to the current situation is an anachronism, I would tend to agree.

I’d also like to see social media and search engines legislated as utilities... but I’m in the EU so my opinion scarcely matters, to be perfectly honest.

> I’m in the EU so my opinion scarcely matters, to be perfectly honest

That's not really true (I say this as an American). Sure, the US government is highly unlikely to change their policies based on what people living in the EU think. That doesn't mean the EU can't legislate such things within their own borders though. There's no technological reason a search engine or social media platform couldn't be based in the EU; for example, Qwant exists (https://www.qwant.com).

When Voltaire was alive the French government was a monarchy that employed official censors that had the authority to prevent criticism of the church or state from being published by anyone. That kind of censorship is explicitly illegal under the first amendment. There is really no precedent for the mass publication of free-flowing content from anyone in the world prior the 1980s that would be relevant.

Censorship by the church is not illegal under the first amendment.

>Would he defend your right to say it in his living room, though?

Twitter is not a living room.

Arguing from bad faith does no one good.