Those praising social media for turfing out white supremacists (and those demanding free speech from it), are missing a deeper problem, writes John Herrman: that these commercial simulations of liberal public discourse are broken replicas of it, ultimately ruled by fiat.
But what gave these trolls power on platforms wasn’t just their willingness to act in bad faith and to break the rules and norms of their environment. It was their understanding that the rules and norms of platforms were self-serving and cynical in the first place. After all, these platforms draw arbitrary boundaries constantly and with much less controversy — against spammers, concerning profanity or in response to government demands.
Demanding that private companies embody or guarantee constitutional rights is one of the worst mistakes people make on the internet. It's not about whether they say yes or no; the plain fact is they can't, even if they want to. They are never free of outside pressure or internal cunning. The more principled they try to be, the more grotesque it is when reality – governments, regulators, lawsuits, mobs, boycotts, liabilities, the invisible fist of the market – bites.
Companies offering free speech or anything like it are asking you to speechcrop, providing access to their audience only so long as you are using their voice.
