
Facebook, Google, and the Death of the Public Square - raleighm
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/the-death-of-the-public-square/564506/?single_page=true
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gowld
Hogwash.

The author simultaneously complains that big tech companies both oppose free
expression and make expression too free for the author's desires.

The author's main concern is that Google/Facebook allow too many low-quality
people to speak, instead of only allowing speech approved by gatekeepers like
himself.

> By radically remaking the advertising business and commandeering news
> distribution, Google and Facebook have damaged the economics of journalism.
> Amazon has thrashed the bookselling business in the U.S. They have shredded
> old ideas about intellectual property—which had provided the economic and
> philosophical basis for authorship.

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commandlinefan
> it has no opinion about what it offers

... Thank God?

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XalvinX
It is pretty clear that the Internet (including sites like this one) have made
for a huge 'public square' including pretty much everyone. Neither Facebook
nor Google produce _any_ original content on their own, they just make
platforms. Google's reviews (tied in with Maps) is a great example...how much
freer do you want?

