The right are currently targeting facebook and tech firms because they want to be able to influence the ‘algorithm’ to support their policies.
They are current churning out concepts such as the ‘censorship industrial complex’, and finding ways to publicize blame on “liberal Californian tech firms”.
The right wing think tanks are posturing about this from the perspective of free speech - while avoiding getting down into the weeds of trust and safety decision making.
I am on board with better freedom of speech protections - but not someone pontificating on principles, but ignoring the massive amounts of failure when you run moderation on “principles”.
This is where they lose credibility for me, and the power grab becomes apparent.
This letter is almost certainly to appease the Republican Party so that Meta is not dragged into hearings near the election.
Vaccine hesitancy and general distrust of 'big pharma' started in left wing, hippy / naturalist culture in the 1970s. And lawyers suing big corporate pharma companies for harm caused to children is definitely a liberal thing (RFK jr's career profile).
Russian sympathizers were almost always leftwing from the 1940s on. It's only very recently that the media has attempted to flip the script to say that Trump or right wingers are pro Russia. Only gullible people believe this.
And someone who spent their fortune and life focus on fighting climate change through the EV car revolution is somehow right wing?
> Vaccine hesitancy and general distrust of 'big pharma' started in left wing, hippy / naturalist culture in the 1970s.
This just isn’t true. Groups of people suspicious about medical treatment for religious reasons predate the 1970s considerably, and the antivax movement was famously an example of fringe right-wing and fringe left-wing people finding common cause.
> It's only very recently that the media has attempted to flip the script to say that Trump or right wingers are pro Russia.
This similarly betrays deep historical ignorance. Russia isn’t a communist state, it’s run by an oligarchy of rich white men who have beliefs about race, gender, and sexuality which have a lot in common with those of the people they make common cause with.
> And someone who spent their fortune and life focus on fighting climate change through the EV car revolution is somehow right wing?
He didn’t spend a fortune, he made one by sagely taking advantage of government subsidies and market demand. There’s nothing wrong with that but it’s hardly selfless to make yourself fabulously rich and there’s no evidence that he’s a climate activist in areas which don’t directly benefit his wealth. As to his political leanings, what makes him a right-winger is his years of support and endorsement of right wing positions and politicians.
