Just What Is Facebook?

[jamil]

It's a big bag of money and dc wants a large share. I remember when dc went after Microsoft years ago until Bill Gates learned how the big game is played. You share the wealth with the dc machine or they make things rough for you. The deep state is no different than street thugs running a protection racket.

Always follow the money

No. Gates didn’t get himself out of that mess. He was about to have his tool crushed in a vice. Then GWB was elected and promptly ordered the .gov to settle it.

 

[semperfi211]

As far as the question what is facebook, I'm not sure. I am on facebook and I enjoy it for what I use it for. I am on many parts of facebook for Marine Corps Veterans and A-4 aircraft mechanics, pilots etc. I enjoy seeing many pictures and stories that are shared from fellow Marines and folks from the A-4 community, brings back some great memories and I have learned about some reunions I may have not known about. I am also on some Harley owner and motorcycle rider groups. I enjoy the motorcycle talk on these groups and have learned of many motorcycle runs in my area that I would not have known about. Thats a couple of things I get from FB.

 

[semperfi211]

.

 

[idkfa]

First, the question boils down to whether Facebook is a platform or a publisher.
Currently, de jure it is a platform. Therefore, it enjoys protection of the Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which grants immunity from prosecution for any unlawful content posted by its users.
However, such protection was explicitly provided to facilitate "true diversity of political discourse" (Section 230(a)(3)).
As such, by de-platforming the users who have not been charged with any crime, they are violating the terms of Section 230.

Second, the First Amendment arguably applies as well. In a 1994 Turner vs. FCC decision, the Supreme Court ruled:

First Amendment's command that government not impede the freedom of speech does not disable the government from taking steps to ensure that private interests not restrict, through physical control of a critical pathway of communication, the free flow of information and ideas.

Third, while the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination only on the grounds of color, race, religion, or national origin, states have their own lists of protected traits. For example, DC's list includes political affiliation, which means that Facebook denying service to right-wing activists is discrimination according to DC law.


Thus, Facebook is clearly engaged in politically motivated censorship, and in that it appears to be in violation of several federal and state laws, possibly even the US Constitution, which in itself calls for government intervention in the form of prosecution.



Sources:
https://www.city-journal.org/html/platform-or-publisher-15888.html
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5334675097720961353
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/us/when-businesses-can-deny-you-service-trnd/index.html

 

[Expat]

It is where friends and family can marvel at how smart and good looking my grandsons are.

 

[jamil]

Platform or publisher. Irrelevant. They are too big to care.

So, practically,

For the few sane, socially well-adjusted people, it can be a place to communicate with friends or family.

For hobbyists, it’s a place to share your hobbies with other enthusiasts.

For business owners it’s a place to promote their enterprises.

For for unhappy, pathetic, vein wannabes, it’s an online venue for manufacturing a Stepford family and making other vein losers jealous.

For political junkies, it’s a place to live in a bubble and confirm your biases; endlessly argue with people who can’t possibly change their opinions.

For newsrooms it’s a place to spread real and fake news.

For Facebook it’s a machine that makes its investors rich, while manipulating the beliefs of others to the detriment of society.

 

[Dr.Midnight]

Platform or publisher. Irrelevant. They are too big to care.

So, practically,

For the few sane, socially well-adjusted people, it can be a place to communicate with friends or family.

For hobbyists, it’s a place to share your hobbies with other enthusiasts.

For business owners it’s a place to promote their enterprises.

For for unhappy, pathetic, vein wannabes, it’s an online venue for manufacturing a Stepford family and making other vein losers jealous.

For political junkies, it’s a place to live in a bubble and confirm your biases; endlessly argue with people who can’t possibly change their opinions.

For newsrooms it’s a place to spread real and fake news.

For Facebook it’s a machine that makes its investors rich, while manipulating the beliefs of others to the detriment of society.

I'm wired a little differently I guess. I've made it 40+ years without Facebook, and if they shut down today, I wouldn't miss them at all. I've never really understood the need to tell people what I'm having for dinner or whether I dropped a floater or diver this morning.

 

[Leadeye]

I'm wired a little differently I guess. I've made it 40+ years without Facebook, and if they shut down today, I wouldn't miss them at all. I've never really understood the need to tell people what I'm having for dinner or whether I dropped a floater or diver this morning.

^ This. Never have used it and probably never will. There's so much more out there than a keyboard and screen.

 

[jamil]

I'm wired a little differently I guess. I've made it 40+ years without Facebook, and if they shut down today, I wouldn't miss them at all. I've never really understood the need to tell people what I'm having for dinner or whether I dropped a floater or diver this morning.

I agree. I do have an empty facebook account, though, so that I can view other Facebook pages when someone links something of interest. But, Facebook has no value to me other than that purpose. Most of the people I know who actively participate on Facebook to personally share their lives, are clearly not better off for it. Mostly people build fake lives to show the world. They never show who/what they really are. And then their friends look at the facade as if it’s real, and think their own lives suck. Except they also put up a facade. It becomes a race towards an unreachable fake virtue trophy. Facebook is like the social church on steroids.

 

[Ingomike]

I get that most of you do not give a f*** about FB. But the masses do, your wives do. FB is likely the number one news source for 30-60 year old women. The masters of the universe social media companies saw the affect of social media on, particularly, women voters and vowed to shut it down. Conservative media groups estimate FB has shut down 2,000,000,000 page views by restricting conservative content. Google for their part can alter search results to only show positive results for the preferred and negative for the reviled candidates.

We must stop this. This battle is not over social media. It is a battle for our Republic...

 

[idkfa]

I get that most of you do not give a f*** about FB. But the masses do, your wives do. FB is likely the number one news source for 30-60 year old women. The masters of the universe social media companies saw the affect of social media on, particularly, women voters and vowed to shut it down. Conservative media groups estimate FB has shut down 2,000,000,000 page views by restricting conservative content. Google for their part can alter search results to only show positive results for the preferred and negative for the reviled candidates.

We must stop this. This battle is not over social media. It is a battle for our Republic...

Wholeheartedly agree. Facebook and Twitter (and even Instagram) constitute the new public square.
This is a battle to establish the limits of their interference in who can use their respective platforms and what kind of content they are allowed to post.

The outcome of the battle with Facebook will establish a precedent that will affect behavior of all social media companies, and thus will have a tremendous downstream butterfly effect.

 

[idkfa]

Platform or publisher. Irrelevant. They are too big to care.

They certainly don't care. The answer to this question is key to establish whether or not the government can intervene.
If they are indeed a publisher, they lose all protection under Section 230, and are responsible for all content.
This will effectively force them to cease operation -- or rethink their approach to censorship.

 

[jamil]

They certainly don't care. The answer to this question is key to establish whether or not the government can intervene.
If they are indeed a publisher, they lose all protection under Section 230, and are responsible for all content.
This will effectively force them to cease operation -- or rethink their approach to censorship.

See post #2 in this thread.

 

[idkfa]

See post #2 in this thread.

I don't see any disagreement with what I said.

1) I did address "it's the private company" issue in my earlier reply.
The precedent whereby the government can regulate private companies to ensure free flow of information does exist.

2) The guy in the video does say that repealing Section 230 will result in FB being responsible for its users' content.
This would put them in a precarious situation, and they'll definitely have to close up shop.
Which means if the repeal of Section 230 (or removal of its protections for FB) is even on the table, they will start to listen.
Basically, Section 230 route is a "long con" to force social media companies to stop censorship under the threat of the unbearable future litigation, which will ensue as soon as the protections granted by the Section are removed.

3) I did address the issue of protected classes. The video does not mention that different states already have different lists of protected classes.

 

[Ingomike]

See post #2 in this thread.

See post #1 and #16. They in sworn testimony and legal filings are trying to have it both ways when it suits them.

 

[BugI02]

I get that most of you do not give a f*** about FB. But the masses do, your wives do. FB is likely the number one news source for 30-60 year old women. The masters of the universe social media companies saw the affect of social media on, particularly, women voters and vowed to shut it down. Conservative media groups estimate FB has shut down 2,000,000,000 page views by restricting conservative content. Google for their part can alter search results to only show positive results for the preferred and negative for the reviled candidates.

We must stop this. This battle is not over social media. It is a battle for our Republic...

Dude, that ship sailed eons ago. The breakup of Ma Bell took eight years from court filing to consent decree. Supposing a similar action would be similarly timed, Facebook and Google will still be able to do all possible to swing the election for a woke progressive who in turn will have no interest in reigning in Facebook and Google

And it would likely be tried in the 9th circuit

And we're not even anywhere near a court filing at this time

Job one is re-elect Trump and McConnell and elect every Republican of whatever stripe you can. 2020 will not be a time to be picky

With four more years we can undo a lot of damage before we need to worry about a Democrat once again sitting at the resolute desk

 

[Ingomike]

Dude, that ship sailed eons ago. The breakup of Ma Bell took eight years from court filing to consent decree. Supposing a similar action would be similarly timed, Facebook and Google will still be able to do all possible to swing the election for a woke progressive who in turn will have no interest in reigning in Facebook and Google

And it would likely be tried in the 9th circuit

And we're not even anywhere near a court filing at this time

Job one is re-elect Trump and McConnell and elect every Republican of whatever stripe you can. 2020 will not be a time to be picky

With four more years we can undo a lot of damage before we need to worry about a Democrat once again sitting at the resolute desk

True, but that does not mean using the threat of changing 230 cannot affect their behavior in the short term, and maybe long term. The spineless Republicans had the opportunity to affect change and blew it...

 

[Route 45]

Platform or publisher. Irrelevant. They are too big to care.

So, practically,

For the few sane, socially well-adjusted people, it can be a place to communicate with friends or family.

For hobbyists, it’s a place to share your hobbies with other enthusiasts.

For business owners it’s a place to promote their enterprises.

For for unhappy, pathetic, vein wannabes, it’s an online venue for manufacturing a Stepford family and making other vein losers jealous.

For political junkies, it’s a place to live in a bubble and confirm your biases; endlessly argue with people who can’t possibly change their opinions.

For newsrooms it’s a place to spread real and fake news.

For Facebook it’s a machine that makes its investors rich, while manipulating the beliefs of others to the detriment of society.

For criminal investigators, it's a goldmine.

 

[rhino]

Everything that people can see about Facebook is superficial. Facebook is an ultra-sophisticated data mining and analysis tool. The machine is always grinding away on every tiny bit of information to which it is exposed, whether intentionally or by carelessness. That includes not just what people choose to post there, but also the information they have on their devices just as soon as they foolishly grant access. And don't forget it's snaking and weaseling its way through contact lists, emails, text messages, and other things that touch other people's lives who never consented to any exposure to Facebook.

Everything else is paint and trimming.

 

[churchmouse]

Everything that people can see about Facebook is superficial. Facebook is an ultra-sophisticated data mining and analysis tool. The machine is always grinding away on every tiny bit of information to which it is exposed, whether intentionally or by carelessness. That includes not just what people choose to post there, but also the information they have on their devices just as soon as they foolishly grant access. And don't forget it's snaking and weaseling its way through contact lists, emails, text messages, and other things that touch other people's lives who never consented to any exposure to Facebook.

Everything else is paint and trimming.

Bingo.

I was shopping for a few things on line. Logged in to catch up with friends in far away places and what do I see......every item I checked into on my page for sale. Including the GMC pick ups I was checking the prices on so I could sell mine. Less than 10 minutes after I stopped shopping.