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> A situation in which the government ruled out some ideas

and yet we have libel laws, anti hate speech provisions, corporate secrecy laws and so on and so forth all of which prohibit me from saying things just because I feel like it.

But I don't think that's even the discussion any more. The discussion is whether you should be obligated to provide these reprehensible views with a platform, and to what degree it should be possible for us to tune them out altogether, as a matter of personal preference.

Reddit made a choice, perhaps commercially driven to apply a certain modicum of taste and decency to their platform, to complaints from "free speech advocates". Just what these people stand for, and to what degree it should be defended, is different from what voltaire was talking about.



> and yet we have libel laws, anti hate speech provisions, corporate secrecy laws and so on and so forth all of which prohibit me from saying things just because I feel like it.

Not sure what you meant by this paragraph.

> But I don't think that's even the discussion any more. The discussion is whether you should be obligated to provide these reprehensible views with a platform, and to what degree it should be possible for us to tune them out altogether, as a matter of personal preference.

I think both discussions are extremely important at this point in time. Personally, I don't think companies should be obligated to provide a platform for people with all kinds of ideas, but I think that they should nonetheless do so (because I think freedom of speech is a good thing). I am in favour of freedom of speech on social media, but not in favour of this being mandated by law (because it isn't contradictory to freedom of speech to have some spaces in which freedom of speech is not allowed).

>Reddit made a choice, perhaps commercially driven to apply a certain modicum of taste and decency to their platform, to complaints from "free speech advocates". Just what these people stand for, and to what degree it should be defended, is different from what voltaire was talking about.

I'm not sure what Voltaire was talking about, because I have not read Voltaire. But if one believes that freedom of speech is valuable in and of itself, or that it is valuable because it leads to the discovery of great truths, then one ought to be in favour of freedom of speech on Reddit.


> I have not read Voltaire. But if one believes that freedom of speech is valuable

I find it very hard to believe you're not familiar with the famous Voltaire quote about free speech.

> it is valuable because it leads to the discovery of great truths

You might say this, but it doesn't make it universally true.


and yet we have libel laws, anti hate speech provisions,

You may not be aware of this, but in the US, "hate speech" is protected expression under the First Amendment to the Constitution.


The demand is that platform remove certain content and certain opinions. You are not allowed to have a wrong opinion on vaccinations currently for allegedly safety reasons. You have warped that claim, since you want to remove content. There are platforms where everything goes and they are under attack.




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