For years, the Right Wing has used privately-owned social media platforms to distribute and amplify lies and hate. With their Russian allies, they have polluted the public discourse and opened the door to Trump’s fanning of embers and flames which now threaten our democratic institutions. Because the platforms are privately owned, there would have been no First Amendment implications if the platforms had blocked them. Belatedly, the platforms are acting to dump these bad actors. See here. But Facebook, Twitter, Apple, et al. could, and should, have done this years ago. The injection of hate and lies into the bloodstream of American discourse did not have to happen.
Seven years ago, there was a controversy over an Apple App operated by Exodus International which pressed the false and dangerous “conversion therapy” hoax. As this March 22, 2011, Fox News 5 debate between the Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg and me demonstrated, this App was false and dangerous; and Apple, as a responsible corporate citizen, should not have allowed it on its platform. Apple subsequently dropped Exodus International’s App. See here. And Exodus International’s leader subsequently admitted that “conversion therapy” was a myth and he shut down the organization. See here.
If in the early years of this decade, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter had taken similar steps regarding other lying, hateful groups who sought to use their platforms, the world today would be a better place. The least they can do is to stop it from happening in the future.
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