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wart365 t1_j8qhn56 wrote

What Republicans want to happen: social media websites admit they did a no-no by banning Trump & agree to artificially promote right-wing views in exchange for not being regulated under Section 230.

What will happen: Republicans will try to gut Section 230 regardless, and social media companies will hedge themselves by formally becoming Publishers. Republicans will then be mass culled from all major websites, Section 230 won't apply, and most of the web will move to paid subscriptions. Most people will pay $2 to use Google Image Search or $10 to use Facebook, especially if all Publishers agree on a single Interoperable credentials format. Musk has already done them a favor by breaking the seal on this with paid Twitter subscriptions and people pay for Amazon Prime.

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jupiterkansas t1_j8qivcf wrote

Meanwhile, foreign-based social media sites will be free and will thrive and won't be subject to U.S. laws.

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wart365 t1_j8qsjdm wrote

Presuming Americans even want to watch foreign media. Tik-Tok aside, if all right wing voices are hosted on truth.rus can those people truly call themselves right wing? I'm certain there is a class of Americans that would willingly swallow literal Russian propaganda but those people are a minority, and a very small minority on the right. The American right will die if such an arrangement is made, because Americans won't accept Russia Today into their lives for the same reasons they won't accept China Daily. And similarly, if Russia becomes a major political participant the government can and will blacklist all Russian websites categorically by classifying them as publishers and declaring it to be misinformation.

Likewise, imagine the memes of Trump posting from wall.mx or drill.no or americafirst.il. I think most countries would just ban him and not deal with the consequences of hosting a guy who tried to kill the vice president.

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jeekiii t1_j90zh9e wrote

Honestly if this comes to pass I wouldn't be surprised if major corps split into us/rest of the world divisions.

Americans will use vpn to see the eu version until that's banned too

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DanielPhermous t1_j8qkdxd wrote

If they want to operate in the US, they have to obey US laws.

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Mshell t1_j8qp5m7 wrote

There is a fun little thing called a VPN...

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DanielPhermous t1_j8qppi3 wrote

What has that got to do with anything? JupiterKansas was saying foreign social media sites aren't subject to US laws. A VPN doesn't help there.

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Mshell t1_j8qqexs wrote

By having a VPN you can access sites that are blocked in your area...

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DanielPhermous t1_j8qqiw3 wrote

We're not talking about users accessing anything. We're talking about foreign social media operating in the US.

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aneeta96 t1_j8sx9zb wrote

I can hear the wooshing sound from here.

You said -

> If they want to operate in the US, they have to obey US laws.

If they are not allowed in the US then a VPN that is based in Europe will allow you to view them.

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DanielPhermous t1_j8u05l6 wrote

They are allowed in the US. They want to be in the US. There are 320 million potential customers, most of whom have no idea what a VPN is in the US. You don’t just ignore the worlds third largest and richest country.

It whooshed because it’s an argument that makes little sense in this context. Relying on VPNs is a terrible business decision here.

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coachkler t1_j8qi18i wrote

I'm going to miss the internet. I already miss the quirky one I grew up with in the early 90s. Eternal September is just getting longer and longer

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wart365 t1_j8qrxd6 wrote

Speaking for myself alone, I've come to beilive that the post-google internet will be a net good. Without a single monopoly controlling all web content (or at least web monetization and indexing) smaller sites can exist and create their own networks. Future generations of zoomers can then go through the ruins, and create the all-in-one freeware Internet Catalog that we all want Google to be. One that has selectable FOSS algorithims driving it. Then the Information Age can truly begin.

I'm thinking more about Twitter's death in this. Twitter has effectively controlled the media and mainstream journalism for the past decade. This has been extremely harmful for society culminating with Trump, and new non-Twitter alternatives offer better discussion. 15 years from now Twitter Archeologist will be a job.

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nobody_smith723 t1_j8rn52l wrote

i mean that already exists.

there are alternate browsers.

just like internet explorer dominated for awhile. google isn't the best, it's just the most prevalent.

and don't fucking kid yourself that congress is going to do anything. just like exactly nothing happened to microsoft when it legit uses it's monopoly to kill netscape/other browsers. exactly nothing will happen to google. except... maaaaybe a tiny fine.

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Apple_butters12 t1_j8qkyh7 wrote

This will 100% backfire. Platforms will cull creators they deem as risky and surprise them in recommendations. Only approved creators and vendors will be in searches which means political figures with controversial views will end suppressed more than before.

Another option is recommendations become like Facebook ads where creators will have to pay( bid) to be seen on the list.

One other option is having users have to opt in and as you said hide it behind a modest paywall

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Bright-Ad-4737 t1_j8syqmk wrote

If that's true, I'll bet Tim Cook will just show up and say "Hi, nice hissy fit you morons are throwing here. None of this affects me, but good to see you. BYE!"

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