• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    There is no freedom of speech guarantee in private or public enterprise.

    And the consequence of this policy is a back-door path to censorship. A combination of surveillance, selective-admittance, and media saturation allow certain ideological beliefs to suffice the “marketplace of ideas” while others are silenced.

    “I want to force people to listen to my bullshit.”

    Its more that privatized media infrastructure allows for a monopolization of speech.

    Big media companies still force people to listen to bullshit, by way of advertising and algorithmic promotion. Go on YouTube, click through their “recommended” list a few times, and you’ll quickly find yourself watching some Mr. Beast episode or PraegerU video, simply because these folks have invested so heavily in self-promotion.

    But there’s a wide swath of content you won’t see, either because YouTube’s algorithm explicitly censors it for policy reasons, because the media isn’t maxing out the SEO YouTube execs desire (the classic Soy Face thumbnail for instance), or because you’re not spending enough money to boost visibility.

    This has nothing to do with what the generic video watcher wants to see and everything to do with what YouTube administration wants that watcher to see.

    RFK Jr is a nasty little freak with some very toxic beliefs. But that’s not why he’s struggling to get noticed on the platform, when plenty of other nasty freaks with toxic beliefs get mainstream circulation.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Yeah. That’s also a problem. But then you have to upend corporate ownership of the control of speech, and we’re already facing that problem.