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Comment by archagon

4 years ago

As far as I’m aware, the government has little to no power to force a company to suppress information.

If you think US federal government has "little to no power" over the company whose main business, headquarters and most of the workers are all located in the US - you really misunderstand just how vast US federal government powers are.

  • Be specific. What did the US government tell companies en masse to redact, and what consequences did they threaten them with if they didn't?

    (Just as a reminder, we do not live in the USSR.)

    • > What did the US government tell companies en masse to redact

      https://reclaimthenet.org/emails-facebook-coordinating-with-...

      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/over-50-biden-administra...

      I trust you can find many more links about this topic. As a side note, this is the part we have just learned. Is that all of it? FBI just told us it routinely instructs social media companies about which content they'd like suppressed. And, as we know, they get their wishes.

      > what consequences did they threaten them with if they didn't

      How would I know? I wasn't there. I know which consequences US Federal Government can visit on you if it really hates you, and that's a real lot of bad consequences. How it went on those meetings - I have no idea. Maybe they didn't even need to threaten - though they certainly did in public - the President accused Facebook of "killing people". Do you thing if the Supreme Commander of the US Army and the head of US Federal Executive tells you you're killing people and need to stop it - it's not something you need to think really really hard about?

      > Just as a reminder, we do not live in the USSR

      I know, I've been there. We're not. But we're inching closer and closer to there. When it'd become obvious, it'd be too late to complain - by then, any complaint outside of the boundaries of your private kitchen will land you is a big trouble. Better complain while it's still allowed.

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