Actually it might start with an "F". The "F" crowd actually believed in private ownership of business. They just demanded those companies support their politcal goals. Sounds familiar.
Most Republican leaders including McCarthy have criticized Trump over this. Many also criticized Trump the night of Jan. 6th. We’ll see if this is another turning point or if we see McCarthy and other Republicans going hate in hand to stand by Trump in a week or two.
Regardless of twitter, something should be done about Apple's anti-competitive practices. The DOJ is already on it, but I don't think they have the legislative framework to contend with 21st century monopolies. I don't think he's going to win the primary.
Apple definitely needs to be investigated for anti-competitive practices. Their walled garden has turned third party companies not viable overnight by singular decisions made by Apple. They do hold immense power. I'm frustrated the right only cares about these things when it only delves onto the culture wars. Like why can't someone like DeSantis care about corporate tax subsidies outside the realm of a company being "woke" And you are right about Trump. I'm seeing Trump turning more into what George W turned into, a former president where his former acolytes/fanboys and girls pretend they never supported him.
Antitrust laws are there to ensure fair competition. DoJ was successful at using the then-existing antitrust laws against Microsoft in the 90s (MS made it difficult to uninstall IE or install alt browser and other SW on Windows PC). I still remember the case pretty clearly. On one side is anti-competition. On the other side is innovation. The DOJ and the judge got it right. We now have more competition and more innovation in the SW and browser space. Not sure how it could apply to duopoly. Apple and Google have had a de-factor monopoly with their App store. They argue it's for user benefit - user experience, security, blah blah. Sure (but it's really for profit). But it should be up to the user. Users might want more than one app store, like many today have multiple browsers. Each appstore can host different types of apps. Think of two large cities and each one only has one megastore. Need more stores within each.
In this case, what they are proposing is worse than not caring. They want the government to force private companies to always offer Twitter. Apple and Google have the right to yank Twitter if it becomes a place of nuttzies.
I agree. But I also believe that Apple is violating anti-trust principles by not allowing users to side load Twitter. This however isn't a free speech issue. This is purely a anti-trust issue. That's where I disagree with the right.
Yep. We could also sideload another browser during MS practical exclusion of 3rd party apps. It's difficult and only for "experts". It needs to be as easy as built-in apps and up to the user's choice.
Yes, it's an anti-trust issue (store monopoly). No, absolutely not free speech but it's anti-free speech to not allow a private company to remove apps against their moral standard.
except . . . except . . . IF the reason Apple is violating anti-trust principles is BECAUSE Apple as a company fears the growing influence of a growing number of Republican/conservative people now joining twitter (while libs/Democrats are simultaneously leaving twitter), THEN it is also (potentially) a free speech issue
Apple doesn't fear any political movement outside it's ability to maximize return on investment. Their decisions are purely based on that singular motivation as there literally is no room for an executive in a massive publicly traded Corp to make decisions based on personal political leanings due to their fiduciary responsibility. Again this goes back to the double standard. You and the right for the past half century before didn't mind the free market pandering to conservative values which in essence silenced more progressive ideas. It's the double standard that absolutely frightens me because it tells me that this is only a one way street thing and purely motivated by self-interest rather than the actual principle of free speech.
well we really don't know WHY Apple is threatening to stop offering the Twitter app on the Apple platform. But . . . we can make a pretty good guess I think
Yes that guess can be based on the motivations of a massive publicly traded company full of a hive mind of people who want to maximize return on investment. Yes it's really easy to know what their motivations are.
I'm always amazed at the tendency to self-victimize. They hate us! It's got to be that. But let's just assume for a second it's that. Republicans' speech is not suppressed if Apple removes Twitter. They have plenty of ways to speak up.
Apple's anticompetitive appstore is probably a bit off-topic. Sorry if I turned us that way and I'll try to get back to Republicans. Should Apple have a right to yank Twitter if it becomes a place of nuttzies? I don't think we know they're contemplating that - we just know Musk said so, though knowing him he's probably lying to manipulate public sentiment. We are left to assume Apple objects to Twitter's free speech changes, but it could also be that Musk is asking Apple for a discount that they don't want to extend. But, if it is about the nuttzies, should Apple be able to refuse to provide it in their walled garden? Twitter doesn't compromise the security of the phone nor degrade the customer experience (not having access to twitter might though). I think Twitter would have a good case for a lawsuit if Apple singled them out for their free speech practices (which again, I'm skeptical is even happening) -- but do they need a President DeSantis coming to fight their fight for them? They already have access to the courts. To say this after the Disney thing seems to set a pattern for DeSantis of abusing the power of government office to bully individual companies. It's not really what I'm looking for in a president. I think a number of tech companies have developed significant and harmful market power that should be addressed with not only DOJ investigation but action by Congress to strengthen and modernize antitrust law. But that's focused on their impact on the economy and agnostic to free speech and any political ideology. DeSantis seems to only be concerned with protecting political friends and punishing political enemies among the corporations.
