Who needs government when megacorps can do the job with impunity?
So then I could pose the question; we as a people don’t want the government to crush our freedoms. But are some people ok with allowing a corporation to crush their freedoms?
I agree with your sentiment actually. I think it’s a tragedy that the public squares of our time are so censored and thought policed. It’s just not how or why the law was written that way.
Private companies like Blizzard also have rights, including the right to set a Terms of Service for use of their products.
Hope that clears things up.
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The constitution protects you from the government. The constitution does NOT protect you from consequences leveled by private corporations. Private corporations have a large amount of leeway when it comes to the rules they create and the consequences of breaking those rules.
Funny how “the left” believes in property rights and freedom of association more than people that “lean right.”
It’s also impressive how you knuckleheads never think this whole freeze peach thing through. If Blizzard was forced to platform you, they’d simply delete the forums.
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I’m not for corporations acting as censors either, but the Constitution is the wrong tool to address that. Your feet and your wallet are the appropriate tools. You do not need the law to advocate for your speech on a private platform, you do have some level of control an autonomy to make choices, even if that means leaving. It’s not like this forum has a town square monopoly.
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I agree. Did you think I was at odds with that?
I did, but I’ve just re-read your post and its clear that you are not. Apologies.
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Just a note on how far reaching this censorship can go. Here’s part of an article about something that happened some years ago. With a foreign government forcing Blizzard to punish a gamer.
"Activision Blizzard, one of [America’s biggest gaming companies], just bowed to Chinese censorship in a disturbing way: suspending a professional player of Hearthstone, its digital card game, over a statement supporting [the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests]
The offending commentary from Chung Ng Wai, a Hong Kong-based player who goes by the name “Blitzchung,” came during an official interview on Sunday held after he won a match in the Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament, the highest level of competition in the game.
Chung said “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time” — a protest slogan in the city — while wearing goggles and a face mask, items commonly donned by protestors to conceal their identity. The protests, which began over an extradition law, have morphed into a broad-based demand to [protect the semi-autonomous city’s democratic political system from mainland China’s attempts to exert control over it]
On Tuesday, Blizzard came down hard on Chung. In an official statement on [Hearthstone’s blog], the company announced that it would be suspending Chung for a year, forcing him to forfeit thousands of dollars in prize money from 2019 and firing the broad casters (commentators) who conducted the interview."
Food for thought.
Yep, but we’re still here, still paying. If we were truly upset in a meaningful way, we wouldn’t be here at all.
I don’t think a private business should be compelled by the government to abide by the 1st amendment of the US Constitution. I think the real issue arises when companies, Facebooks & Twitter come to mind, collude with the US Government to censor.
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Well Blizzard bowed down to a foreign government to punish a player. Please look at my post two posts up.
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If Blizzard punished this player on behalf of a government, that would be colluding. I don’t support that.
Stop watching stuff about Elon and Twitter, that nonsense don’t belong here
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On a lighter side.
I do not think a dumpster fire would make marshmallows taste very good.
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Well here is a full explanation of what actually happened:
So it appears that Blizzard as well as other corporations don’t need to fully abide by US Government laws. But are more than happy to bow down to a foreign government’s demands.
Um yeah that’s not what the First Ammendment protects. Try again.
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Constitution of the United States:
First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Congress does not have the right to enact any law that prevents people, the press, from speaking. Nowhere does this ammendment say a private organization cannot establish it’s own rules of conduct for it’s forums.
The Bill of Rights protects you from being prosecuted by a govt agency for what you say. It does not prohibit private individuals or businesses from instituting their own codes of conduct in regards to policies and procedures of conduct.
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