The fairness doctrine would only cover broadcasters that are regulated by the FCC. Society is going to have to find a way to combat disinformation, or reduce its effect on society. It might be time to look at that "every person has equal rights" theory again.

@BitFlipper but that Would impact the Biggest BS-er, Faux! IMO Very helpful!!!!!!

Well that’s an interesting thought. One difference is they don’t have to carry the burden of pretense that they are adhering to a doctrine of love.

@skado perhaps a cape of patriotism, or a crusading defense for everyones right to be a moron? pretty similar, just a media and crowd thing perhaps.

@hankster
You might be right.

The first amendment protects free speech only from laws that congress makes, not from private enterprise or any other institution or individuals. There is no blanket protection in the constitution for free speech.

@skado a social media business can kick you off their platform sure. But there is indeed a blanket protection for free speech, any public property or your own property you can say or believe almost anything. As it should be

@Tejas

That's not blanket protection. That's just the government saying it won't stop you from doing it. In no way does it protect you from the consequences of your speech from sources other than the government.

@skado The devil is in the details and always read the fine print!

@skado Great example would be alex jones. or any civil case for defamation.

I'm sure the dark web is filled with anything and everything. I skimmed along the top a few times. I saw open drug sales happening and thought, if I can find it, the cops sure can.

@Beowulfsfriend I'm a dark web minion, industry uses the dark web for cyber security reasons.
The cops know about the sites where you can order narcotics and weapons etc... but law enforcement can't find a physical location for those servers nor the customers that frequent those businesses.
All deliveries are made via your national postal service, and the criminal web stores find it necessary to deal honestly with their customers because there's customer reviews for these places that will shut them down if people are getting ripped off, unlike street drug dealers from the 70's.
The internet we think we know so well, with all the dot.com, .org, .gov, etc... are collectively what AOL was to the Internet in the 90's compared to the full Internet dark web and all.
I have no fear of my post, I am identifiable, by name and by site registration.
I don't advocate violence, and do nothing illegal now that marijuana isn't illegal where I live.
MAGA conservative lovers of violence porn however just can't hold down the urge to rant about how they want to do whatever they want to do like gang rape and behead AOC perhaps.
If you're the kind of person that post that kind of shit, the Dark Web and VPNs and 2048 bit encryption will do NOTHING to hide your stupid ass should something happen to AOC that people reading your post would associate with you.
That's why people pretend to be someone else, like "Q" who quit posting the moment he was discovered and identified, now the moron is running for Congress.
The balls on some people.

Saying things does not make one a criminal (according to Free Speech). What you say might suggest it but, and this is what Con's got mad about with Obama's phone surveillance (though they were automatically mad at anything he did), spying on Americans who haven't actually broken a law is illegal. I think it's been demonstrated that looking into a person's background is fine for a prospective employer (in fact, we usually pay for it) so fine for the govt if one sets off alarms. I'm certain that I have by some of the things I've said. Alarms don't always ring with truth but not investigating leads to things like 9/11/01 and mass shootings.

@rainmanjr "Obama's phone surveillance"
You mean the G.W. Bush phone surveillance that was in place at least 6 years before Obama was elected?
We'll talk after you get past your delusional MAGA psychotic mind disorder.
The Republicans version of free speech is exactly how we catch insurrectionist, besides if it were illegal to speak hate speech you stupid SOBs couldn't keep your mouth shut anyway.
Please tell us all how you want to get an AK-47 and come after people like me.
Fucking moron.

@Willow_Wisp Respect, girl!

@Willow_Wisp @rainmanjr Phone surveillance has existed for decades. I met guys who did it back in the days of hard lines and before computers listened for key words. I was told, while in the military, that at least 10% of all calls from Boston through to DC were at least briefly listened to. This was 1978. Under Bush II, computers have been put to use; they listen for key words and if heard send the call to humans. I used to like calling friends and saying at the start, "bombs, Bush, White House, explosion," and then start my mundane call.

@rainmanjr Threaten a President on line, see Ted Nugent, and see how fast the Secret Service and FBI come knocking at your door. Come on, I dare you. Free speech does not mean free of consequences.

@Beowulfsfriend
This should explain the issue.
Conservatives have gold fish minds.
Now days I keep hearing about "Obama's NAFTA" and before that they claimed it was "Clinton's NAFTA" none of them remember that it was "G.H. Bushe's NAFTA."

Read this to learn some history about phone surveillance from 2005, to me 21 years ago isn't so long ago, I am not blessed with forgetfulness.

[nytimes.com]

@Beowulfsfriend . . . I remember, I used to put those same 'trigger-words' in emails

@Willow_Wisp I wish I knew half of what you know about how the internet works and hacking into it.

Many seem to forget that any freedom requires responsibility.

I keep hoping someone will be able to convince more and more judges that some of this hate speech is like yelling fire in a crowded theater.

@Lorajay the term hate speech is very vague. I'm sure religious people would consider websites like this hate speech and therefore making all of us felons for speaking out against their beliefs. Hate speech must be protected or only the things believed by the majority will be tolerated.

@Tejas Correct. With TV we could have mass-teaching moments (Conjunction Junction was one example) but that's not so easy with so many channels and platforms.

These used to be taught in public schools in the US. By design, Republicans have destroyed that ethic in the public school system, in order to dumb down the population sufficiently to be able to manipulate them. I do not care if you don’t believe me. Nobody believed me when I said they were deliberately degrading the postal system, and nobody believes me when I say they intend to turn Social Security into a for-profit business.

@MsKathleen Oh I KNOW you are on the right track. I knew when reagan started his union bustin' and deregulation programs we were headed for trouble but no one listened to me and my Dad.