Comment by insane_dreamer
13 days ago
IMO the same argument holds for both Musk/X and the CCP/TikTok: social media networks upon which the US public has become heavily dependent, should not be under the absolute control of some unaccountable person/entity with a strong personal agenda -- this applies to both Musk and the CCP.
If there was a way to force Musk to sell X or ban it, I would support that 100%. But that's unlikely to ever happen especially now with co-President Musk. But in the meantime, either breaking TT free of CCP control, or banning it, would be at least one battle won.
> social media networks upon which the US public has become heavily dependent, should not be under the absolute control of some unaccountable person/entity with a strong personal agenda -- this applies to both Musk and [...]
...Benjamin Franklin? This country was built on mass media being in the hands of "unaccountable" persons with strong personal agendas. Projecting the right of American citizens to own and control media like this is precisely what the First Amendment is for.
Foreign owned media isn't nearly so cut and dry, but trying to act like the first ammendment doesn't cover Elon Musk just because his politics got you bent out of shape is absurd.
controlling the algorithm that promotes or demotes content on a social network is the issue, and 1A does _not_ cover that
and the reason it doesn't is because unlike traditional media -- which by the way is regulated in the US (FCC) -- X, FB and the rest go to great lengths to say that they are _not_ publishers and are _not_ responsible for the content. therefore it's not a 1A issue