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(Almost) everyone after Alex Jones ban: We’re gonna need more government!

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Here we go again.
The wailing and gnashing of teeth over Alex Jones’ exile from most of the larger social media platforms are exposing just how similar economic nationalists are with Democrats.
Allum Bokhari – whose Twitter handle @LibertarianBlue is someone’s sick idea of a joke – furiously wrote a screed in Breitbart where he implored the government to act, and act fast.
Online censorship is accelerating so fast, across so many platforms and services, that regulation seems to be the only answer. Competition is impossible when your website can be kicked off the internet, your app can be banned from smartphones, and your financial backers can be banned from supporting you through the web. A progressive racket now governs big tech, preventing Americans from exercising freedom of speech and freedom of association. Liberty-minded lawmakers must act.
More importantly, they must act before the Democrats — who have no intention of preserving internet freedom, and in fact, want to restrict it – do. House Dems have already drawn up a raft of proposals which are entirely focused on combating “misinformation” rather than giving users more tools to choose what they see on tech platforms. One proposal in the document would effectively end anonymity on large tech platforms by requiring them to determine the origin of posts and accounts. If Republicans want tech companies to be obliged to protect the freedom and choice of their users rather than restrict them, the race is on.
Ah, yes…the old “make the rules before the other side can” routine. It’s worked so well before – just look at TSA.
Democrat Senator Chris Murphy has also been chiming in on Big Tech via Twitter.
Private companies deciding not to let their platforms be used to spread hate and lies is not the same as government censorship. If it feels the same, then we need to ask why a small handful of companies have so much control over the content Americans see.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 7,2018
Ah, yes…the old “we live in an oligarchy, so we must enact trust-busting to save us from the big, bad business we enjoy using technology from” argument. How progressive…how Venezuelan-like.
Note the similarities in tone and how both consider government the only solution to ending censorship. Note how both Murphy and Bokhari desire to break up large tech companies – or at least put them on a government-handled leash – on claims it will keep the playing field level.
I pause to ask each party a question on the suggestion of government regulations for Big Tech.
Do Trumphiles really believe the current president is going to create a new political dynasty with Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Barron Trump all holding the presidency for the next four decades? Do Democrats believe the White House will all be held by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, the Castro brothers, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Deval Patrick for the next half century?
It could happen – my fellow Americans never cease to disappoint me in their enjoyment of political farces – but the country’s history suggests otherwise.
Typical voters prefer to see swings in political power, meaning someone from the so-called ‘opposition’ will get their chance to head up the government. The White House has shifted parties three times since 2000. The House has been controlled by Republican since 2011 but the Democrats had possession from 2007 to 2011. The shifting winds of change are more apparent in the Senate which has swung from Republican to Democrat and back like a pendulum since 2001 – despite Democrats enjoying control from 2007 to 2015.
Those changes mean new administrations and new techniques to enforce the laws on the books with mostly disastrous results. Or are we forgetting NSA spying or how gluttonous and complicated the tax code has become?
It’s pure fantasy to believe the government won’t seek more power over Big Tech through ridiculous regulation after ridiculous regulation should the bureaucrats get their grubby paws in the social media pie. Those trusting the government to just be some nebulous organism forget it’s full of individuals with their own wanton agendas – and little oversight. Corporations are at least subject to their shareholders and customers, meaning everyone can choose to engage or not.
I’ll even help those who wish to disengage from Facebook and Twitter by providing a list of alternatives to the big boys:
1) MeWe
2) Gab
3) MySpace (yes, it’s still a thing!)
4) Ello
5) Diaspora
6) Bebo
7) Tagged
8) Netlog
9) Plurk
10) Tumblr
11) Twitch
A further list of companies can be found here.
There’s no reason for the government to start pushing its fist into social media as if it was trying to gut a turkey before Thanksgiving dinner. The results aka stuffing will most likely be disastrous as the regulators and bureaucrats replace innovation with rule after rule after rule. Big Tech will survive without a problem because it has the lobbyists and the money to stick around. The smaller guys will disappear faster than a snap of Thanos’ fingers through regulations and government fines.
Do you really trust the government (any government) – which has totally and completely failed at health care, Social Security, airport security, business bailouts, NSA spying, Prohibition, foreign policy, education, and a laundry list of other issues politicians promised to ‘fix’ – to fairly oversee Big Tech without deciding to take it over completely? Do you seriously believe an entity filled with lesser men and women will actually “get it right” this time?
Stop hoping the government will solve your problems, be grownups, and take your business to some other social media platform! Use the blockchain to fund web projects or go to a smaller financial institution for funding – instead of the big boys. It’s then – and only then – businesses will listen to you and either change their ways or completely die on the vine.

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