http://twitchy.com/jacobb-38/2021/01/10/no-consistent-standards-ben-shapiro-explains-how-the-tech-bros-are-making-the-moment-more-horrible-and-dangerous/
The increasing monopolization of the information flow by big tech is becoming a much larger issue by the hour. In a thread of tweets published Sunday, Ben Shapiro breaks down how shortsighted censorship decisions combined with no consistent standards being applied to the major tech companies are making an already dangerous situation much worse.
Ben Shapiro ~ Imagine if, in the midst of the massive BLM riots this summer, the entire tech infrastructure had deplatformed Facebook because some had used that app to plan events devolving into violence. People would rightly have called that an insane act of ideological fascism.
Yet today, media will celebrate Amazon doing exactly that to Parler. The tech bros are making a horrible and dangerous moment significantly more horrible and dangerous. There are no consistent standards being applied. There is reactionary deplatforming in the name of one side.
Private companies are by law free to do what they like. That’s why I have always said that the solution to the censorship of Twitter is alternatives -- which is what Parler was attempting to be, whatever its flaws.
But when the technological instruments necessary for speech are located in essentially three companies, all of which are moving toward like-minded censorship (Amazon controls about half of all public-cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 16%, and Google 4%), that avenue closes.
I am by nature anti-regulation. But even the consumer-based theory of anti-monopoly championed by free market advocates cuts in favor of anti-monopolistic regulation if these companies are acting in de facto collusion to shut all avenues of dissent.
Everyone on the right is correctly concerned that these same companies are five minutes away from simply removing the ability of conservatives to host content anywhere. If culture is upstream of politics, a culture of freedom is upstream of law protecting freedom.
The Left is attempting to weaponize the evil Capitol attack into an instrument to implement non-governmental one-party control of informational distribution. It won’t be a surprise when this becomes a governmental push, either.
This action to punish all Trump supporters -- and any outlet that hosts them -- for the actions of fringe criminals won’t calm the waters. It will unleash all the worst forces in American life on all sides.
And to conservatives: subscribe to the outlets you love NOW. Because the next move will be to disappear all your access to those outlets via the social media companies. It will be direct access or nothing. And now even direct access is in question thanks to AWS’ move.
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