The best environment is a free speech environment. And in countries like the US where the gov't is prohibited from restricting speech, the INTERNET is a free speech platform. Apps that ride on the internet are NOT the internet. The Internet is the public utility. Apps are private property.
Apps are privately built, privately owned, and privately run. If an app is not designed to be a free speech zone (facebook, twitter), doesn't want to be a free speech zone, no sign it ever wants to be, it doesn't have to be. If the owner of that app wants to allow others to use it, then they need to spell out in their Terms of Service what's allowed and what's not. Read it. Really. Clicking YES means you've agreed to be censored at their discretion. Don't like it? Easy. Don't click yes, and don't use it.
All things equal, speech that is free is better than speech that is not. But just because you "have come to rely on" (author's words) an app, doesn't change a thing.
In the US, other than in a few specific court-tested situations, there should be no expectation of free speech on private property.
Disagree.
The best environment is a free speech environment. And in countries like the US where the gov't is prohibited from restricting speech, the INTERNET is a free speech platform. Apps that ride on the internet are NOT the internet. The Internet is the public utility. Apps are private property.
Apps are privately built, privately owned, and privately run. If an app is not designed to be a free speech zone (facebook, twitter), doesn't want to be a free speech zone, no sign it ever wants to be, it doesn't have to be. If the owner of that app wants to allow others to use it, then they need to spell out in their Terms of Service what's allowed and what's not. Read it. Really. Clicking YES means you've agreed to be censored at their discretion. Don't like it? Easy. Don't click yes, and don't use it.
All things equal, speech that is free is better than speech that is not. But just because you "have come to rely on" (author's words) an app, doesn't change a thing.
In the US, other than in a few specific court-tested situations, there should be no expectation of free speech on private property.