Internet platforms including Google and Facebook are dealing with the exasperating task of fighting ugly postings while maintaining some semblance of free expression. Conservatives are complaining about censorship and public trust is slipping. Some are calling for greater transparency so that users know more about how the platforms are arriving at rules and restrictions. A group of nonprofits including the ACLU and EFF developed standards for dealing with online user content. (The Verge, May 7, 2018, by Russell Brandom)
Tom Trinko of American Thinker, May 15, 2018, complains that Google, Facebook and Twitter are hostile to conservative speech: attacking Breitbart, censoring Diamond and Silk and using biased fact-checkers to define fake news. Trinko says that although the platforms are private and can censor speech, they are in effect monopolies with a stranglehold on political expression.
James Langford of the Washington Examiner, May 15, 2018, writes that putting side the First Amendment, the platforms should weigh ethical and financial reasons in treating conservative and liberal opinions equally. Facebook showed that it recognizes the problem by hiring a former Republican senator to assess whether the platform is treating conservatives fairly.