> Twitter is censoring users at the behest of their governments. They don't have to.
They do have to. That is a special feature of governments: they can compel compliance.
Sure: Twitter could just leave Germany. But does that end the censorship? No. It's still there; the only difference is that Twitter is gone. Good for Twitter's moral superiority, bad for everything else.
And let's not kid ourselves about how important Twitter, Facebook, and Google are. German restrictions on Nazi-related speech have been around long before the Internet and Twitter. They are not likely to end because of these companies.
Companies like these are only important to the extent that they empower individual people. To the extent they've assisted social change, like in Arab states, they've done it by being in-country and available to citizens. Not by pulling out in protest.
Laws are changed by people, not by tools. If the people have tools, but don't use them to change the law, that's the people's fault--not the tool.
They do have to. That is a special feature of governments: they can compel compliance.
Sure: Twitter could just leave Germany. But does that end the censorship? No. It's still there; the only difference is that Twitter is gone. Good for Twitter's moral superiority, bad for everything else.
And let's not kid ourselves about how important Twitter, Facebook, and Google are. German restrictions on Nazi-related speech have been around long before the Internet and Twitter. They are not likely to end because of these companies.
Companies like these are only important to the extent that they empower individual people. To the extent they've assisted social change, like in Arab states, they've done it by being in-country and available to citizens. Not by pulling out in protest.
Laws are changed by people, not by tools. If the people have tools, but don't use them to change the law, that's the people's fault--not the tool.