Free Speech Online
For many of the online sites where you may think free speech is protected, you’re required to contractually agree to limit your free speech rights. You actually don’t have the same right to free speech that you would in a truly public forum.
This is true of Face book, Twitter, and pretty much all the major social media sites I’m aware of. Review their Terms of Service and see for yourself.
In most cases the restrictions are reasonable and maybe even necessary for maintaining a quality service. It depends on who’s running the service.
While it may seem that you’re entitled to free speech just the same as you would in a public forum, in actuality you waived that right when you joined the service. That was a condition of your registration.
Some online services are quite liberal when it comes to restricting your free speech rights, while others are more restrictive.
The Catch-All Clause
Many online services also include some kind of catch-all clause which basically gives them the right to censor you however they see fit.
For example, Twitter’s Terms of Service includes the following sentence: “We reserve the right at all times (but will not have an obligation) to remove or refuse to distribute any Content on the Services and to terminate users or reclaim usernames.” So according to those terms, they can nuke your account and content whenever they want.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/20...line-communities-the-delusion-of-entitlement/
For many of the online sites where you may think free speech is protected, you’re required to contractually agree to limit your free speech rights. You actually don’t have the same right to free speech that you would in a truly public forum.
This is true of Face book, Twitter, and pretty much all the major social media sites I’m aware of. Review their Terms of Service and see for yourself.
In most cases the restrictions are reasonable and maybe even necessary for maintaining a quality service. It depends on who’s running the service.
While it may seem that you’re entitled to free speech just the same as you would in a public forum, in actuality you waived that right when you joined the service. That was a condition of your registration.
Some online services are quite liberal when it comes to restricting your free speech rights, while others are more restrictive.
The Catch-All Clause
Many online services also include some kind of catch-all clause which basically gives them the right to censor you however they see fit.
For example, Twitter’s Terms of Service includes the following sentence: “We reserve the right at all times (but will not have an obligation) to remove or refuse to distribute any Content on the Services and to terminate users or reclaim usernames.” So according to those terms, they can nuke your account and content whenever they want.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/20...line-communities-the-delusion-of-entitlement/
