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posted by martyb on Monday October 29 2018, @08:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the social-commentary-on-social-media dept.

The social network gab.com is apparently going down on Monday, October 29th at 09:00 ET. Their ISP has terminated their services, ostensibly because Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh mass shooting suspect, had made offensive posts on Gab.

To get this out of the way: I have mixed feelings about Gab, more specifically, about the founders. However, the idea that some social network somewhere should refuse to censor anything that is not outright illegal? This is good. Social media has become the modern "market square", and free speech should be guaranteed, even if the platforms are technically private.

If you want free speech, you apparently don't want to be in the U.S.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 29 2018, @01:13PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday October 29 2018, @01:13PM (#755068) Journal

    I agree this is the right way to go. Suppressing their speech only drives them underground and intensifies their sense of persecution. To them, suppression proves they're right. Worse, it proves to others around them that they are right. Contrary to what censors think, censorship greatly increases the problem rather than eliminating it.

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    Washington DC delenda est.
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