I am on the mailing list of Gab, the social media platform run by Andrew Torba, whose "Christian principles" are all over the site, but much less obvious in practice. He is a fervent devotee to his own version of "free speech", which seems to be that anything can be posted. This is today's contribution:-

[Link]

Congress is inviting Gab to explain how they moderate content in the light of the surge of calls for violence following the FBI's search of Trump's Florida base and the way it has been misrepresented by Trump and his supporters. They have written Gab a letter, which can be found at the link.

The letter is important because it indicates not just that Congress is taking these matters seriously, but also the scale of the problem and the threat to democracy inherent in it.

Torba's response misses the point and attempts deflection by offering comparisons with other platforms.

I don’t think anyone doubts that Gab complies with law enforcement requests for information. They have little choice other than to do so.

The point though is to discover what proactive and preventative action is being taken by them. In other words, the level of moderation on the platform. Without active moderation, the kind of posts under review will only be identified after publication. This is cannot be in the public interest.

Being a champion of free speech, which every advocate of democracy is, does not mean that every speech must be set free. Freedom only exists in a democracy under the law.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Those that provoke the high tensions and encourage conflict are rarely those that get their hands dirty.

The first and second amendment are under continual attack by those people....people who will then stand back and claim to be blameless once the high tension string breaks.

Which in America has been inevitable for years and it's only recently that most now recognise it.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Seconded.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

1) Anyone suggesting that the Police be defunded isn't progressive. They are nuts. Individuals might need retraining and recruitment improved, but defunding law and order is just plain stupid.

2) Only if you were born since Feb 2021. The worst POTUS ever contest has only one candidate. Donald Trump.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

I found that pretty interesting. Thanks.

Red and Blue Army!

Agree he has a lot to answer for

Responsibility Deficit Disorder is a medical condition. Symptoms include inability to be corrected when wrong, false sense of superiority, desire to share personal info no else cares about, general hubris. It's a medical issue rather than pure arrogance.