# Are social media's recent bannings a freedom of expression issue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 12, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-social-medias-recent-bannings-a-freedom-of-expression-issue/930330 "2021-01-12T14:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 204
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-social-medias-recent-bannings-a-freedom-of-expression-issue/930330/204 "2021-01-15T00:10:38Z")
Start with these two posts: > [@Are social media's recent bannings a freedom of expression issue?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-social-medias-recent-bannings-a-freedom-of-expression-issue/930330/36): > > A recent closed thread asked if it was a first Amendment violation. It is not. But one poster in the thread raised the issue of whether it might be an oligopoly issue. In a world in which a very few companies, and in fact a very few individual executives, control the soapboxes of the public square, should there be some consideration to that power by a very few, that it not be applied capriciously? Case made by Russian dissident and assassination attempt survivor Alexey Navalny. Neither is Me… > [@Are social media's recent bannings a freedom of expression issue?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-social-medias-recent-bannings-a-freedom-of-expression-issue/930330/139): > > From my perspective, as the creator of one of the threads that merged into this one, we are debating the degree of power over the debate in public square that a few CEOs now have, how they exert that power, and whether we as a society (expressed as users, product, consumers, customers, and citizens) decide if there is: a public interest in controlling disinformation and hate speech a public interest in having the square contain a wide diversity of opinions and ideas a need to have some system… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-social-medias-recent-bannings-a-freedom-of-expression-issue/930330)._