Free Speech

Free speech is a term that is thrown around a lot today, in all sorts of situations.  People accuse Facebook, Apple and Google (YouTube) of stifling free speech.  Recently the conspiracy follower, Alex Jones was removed from Apple podcasts, Spotify podcasts, Google's YouTube and Facebook.  People all over these social media are claiming that this is a slippery slope for free speech.

First, we have to define free speech.  Free speech comes from the first amendment to the constitution.  The Constitution is a founding document for America.  The body of the Constitution lists the limits and responsibilities of the federal government.  The Bill of Rights or the first ten amendments to the Constitution list the protections of the people who are living under this federal government.  The first amendment reads like this:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There are five rights or protections given to the people of the United States.  They are

1. Freedom of religion
2. Freedom of speech
3. Freedom of the press
4. Freedom to peaceably assemble
5. Freedom to redress the government for grievances

Alameda County is coming against our church and we are citing the first part of the First Amendment claiming that the county is violating our right to religious freedom.  

However, freedom of speech is a guarantee from the federal government to all citizens living in the United States and its protectorates and territories.  Therefore, if I stand in front of the Supreme Court building with a sign stating a position, government police cannot stop me.  If I stand on the street corner in my hometown and I loudly read from the Bible, local police cannot stop me.  These are examples of free speech.  The Supreme Court has widened this definition to include art, print, video and a few other items of self expression.  

Facebook, Twitter, Google (YouTube), Apple and Spotify are not the government.  Your relationship with them is defined and outlined in their Terms of Service that you agreed to when you signed up to use these services.  In Facebook’s terms of service they said something that Alex Jones violated and, therefore, he is gone.  Apple, Spotify and Google (YouTube) accused Alex Jones of hate speech, which is against their terms of service.  YouTube has also accused Prager University of hate speech, because they speak conservative values and against leftist policies.  Hate speech is not defined anywhere so these companies may have some legal problems, yet that is the reason they used.  Prager University is suing Google.  At the time of this writing, Alex Jones is still on Twitter.

Individuals have a very simple and powerful recourse when companies like Facebook and Google do things they do not like.  People simply leave and go somewhere else.  Facebook and social media like them come and go.  MySpace and Freindster are two services that used to be on top.  People left them for Facebook.  If Facebook goes off the rails, people will leave them for something else.