Liberals tried to warn about this you know. While the illiberal progressives were crowing that corporations should be allowed deny speech to whomever they wanted and that "freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences", liberals warned that it would boomerang if societal values shifted in favor of the conservatives or wealthy conservatives gained control of media corporations. Well, now it has happened; this is what they asked for and they're getting it. Turns out that freedom of speech isn't just about the First Amendment after all.
The extremist parade of horribles that results from this is laws that mandate private companies host forums for all who ask and social media that is functionally unusable because spam filtering is legally indistinguishable from censorship[0].
What we need isn't mandating that Facebook hand everyone a megaphone. What we need is fire exits: alternatives to Facebook that have migration paths that don't result in us losing all contact with our Facebook friends. The problem with Facebook isn't that they can censor you, it's that they're big enough that you have to care if they do.
And for the record, there were progressives saying this, too. Most of what I'm saying in this comment is cribbed from Cory Doctorow.
[0] Remember when the GOP sued Google because their campaign e-mails got flagged as spam?
So that policy is actually from 2022. The other hypocrisies from Zuck like suddenly hunting his own meat with a bow (whose manufacturer he did not know on Joe Rogan) and the sudden masculinity of course still exist.
Since META went full Twitter/Musk, no surprise with this.
I have been shadow banned for posting art. instagram.com/danandtheworld
Liberals tried to warn about this you know. While the illiberal progressives were crowing that corporations should be allowed deny speech to whomever they wanted and that "freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences", liberals warned that it would boomerang if societal values shifted in favor of the conservatives or wealthy conservatives gained control of media corporations. Well, now it has happened; this is what they asked for and they're getting it. Turns out that freedom of speech isn't just about the First Amendment after all.
The extremist parade of horribles that results from this is laws that mandate private companies host forums for all who ask and social media that is functionally unusable because spam filtering is legally indistinguishable from censorship[0].
What we need isn't mandating that Facebook hand everyone a megaphone. What we need is fire exits: alternatives to Facebook that have migration paths that don't result in us losing all contact with our Facebook friends. The problem with Facebook isn't that they can censor you, it's that they're big enough that you have to care if they do.
And for the record, there were progressives saying this, too. Most of what I'm saying in this comment is cribbed from Cory Doctorow.
[0] Remember when the GOP sued Google because their campaign e-mails got flagged as spam?
2019: Zuckerberg Confirms Facebook Blocked Pro-Life Ads
https://thetablet.org/zuckerberg-facebook-blocked-pro-life-a...
2022: Mark Zuckerberg tells employees Facebook’s ‘encryption’ will protect abortion-seeking users
https://cyberscoop.com/mark-zuckerberg-meta-facebook-abortio...
2022: Facebook and Instagram removing posts with mentions of abortion pills
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jun/28/facebook-...
So that policy is actually from 2022. The other hypocrisies from Zuck like suddenly hunting his own meat with a bow (whose manufacturer he did not know on Joe Rogan) and the sudden masculinity of course still exist.
Shadow-banning of this type screams first amendment violation. Political speech has special protections.
When it's a private service, you have no first amendment; they can do as they see fit.
Your only course of action is to lawyer up, Good luck.
T&C's are designed in such a way to ensure you waive all those rights when you sign up to such services.