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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

While this isn’t a free speech issue, I have to say I’m a bit surprised in how quickly FB censorship jumped the shark. It started out bding targeted to content that “everyone” agreed was inappropriate, and now is simply pushing the Democratic agenda. Really ought to serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who supports “reasonable” restrictions on speech. The slippery slope isn’t just theoretical.

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Can you back that argument up with evidence? Far from seeing Fb pushing the "Democratic agenda", I'm still seeing a Facebook rife with things like official Paul Nehlen pages filled with openly anti-Semitic comments.

From my vantage point it looks like you have to literally be selling fake dietary supplements on the back of a conspiracy theory about the Sandy Hook kids being crisis actors to get yourself kicked off Facebook.

For example, from the article:

> According to Facebook’s policy, it does not allow ads promoting sales of firearms, silencers, other weapons like knives and fireworks, and ads promoting the brandishing of firearms.

Guns are not only legal, but Constitutionally protected. What explanation for banning them other than pushing a Democratic pro-gun-control agenda? Imagine the furor if Facebook banned ads for contraception or abortion services.

> While this isn’t a free speech issue

It absolutely is a free speech issue. It's not a First Amendment issue, but First Amendment issues are only a subset of free speech issues.

Same goes for Google, YouTube, and Twitter among others.

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