Blog #5: 8 Values of Free Expression

    The First Amendment protects dissent and disagreement among citizens and between the government and governed. It is the reason we can't be arrested for calling Donald Trump the new Hitler or for using slurs to refer to Barrack Obama, even if it is offensive and potentially harmful. This does not mean, however, that society has no social rules against these things. We can see in "cancel culture" that, while your hate speech is constitutionally protected, members of society will hold you accountable for your words and your entire career can be over in minutes.

    Recently many celebrities and online personalities have had old tweets and videos resurface, prompting #___isoverparty trends on twitter. Family YouTuber Cole LaBrant is no different, already being controversial before having tweets like the one above resurface. He has the constitutional right so post that and whatever else he wants to say. That does not mean society can't "cancel" him and and stop supporting him because they dislike his words or actions, that is their right and that is protected as well, no one can force people to support a content creator.

    The government can't step in and stop people from posting things like this or from saying them at all, but things get muddled when you consider a privately owned social media platform like Twitter. Our current president prefers to use Twitter to communicate directly with the public. Recently one of his tweets was flagged for inciting violence based on Twitter's policies and he claimed it was violating his freedom of speech and unfairly censoring him and discriminating against him.

    It is important to note that Twitter is not the government and therefore cannot violate any first amendment rights, and that all users must sign a terms and conditions agreement including the website's policies on what is and is not allowed to be posted before creating an account. Further, the tweet was not deleted by the platform but instead was marked with a flag stating it contained violent language that Twitter does not allow on their website.

    The public and private companies can "censor" language however they want, or give backlash to those saying things they don't agree with as long as that "backlash" does not include behavior that breaks another law.