This post is a response to: https://peakd.com/freespeech/@theycallmedan/freespeech-initiative.
Watching youtube, I see so many creators just even afraid to say the word "cornoavirus". Why? Because they realize that if they do, they might be out a job. And at a time like this, losing your job would be terrible, would it not? Who could blame them?
But is that the world we want to live in? Where people are afraid to say a word because they are scared of the ramification? No, it shouldn't be our world, but sadly it is. And there's a reason for it.
As important as protecting an individual's free speech is, you have to think about the rights of the site as well.
Image From PixabayFree speech is also risky. Letting anyone say anything, including lies, will lead to problems, and can hurt people's reputations. There needs to be controls to what can stay up and what can't.
Thinking about it on the web, I think each site should be able to restrict what they want. Not everyone might agree with that, but what about that site's free speech? Having content on their site that disagrees with their beliefs would be restricting that site's free speech would it not? Protecting the individual's right to free speech is important, but you still have to protect the speech and reputation of the site its on. Removing a post from a site is a from of speech in a way. You can't say you want to protect free speech, but not allow the same thing to others.
Am I saying everyone should be censored? Hell no. The user can move to a different medium to publish what they want. While it might not be the best solution, it's one way of ensuring everyone's rights are protected. Both the site and the user get their right to free speech.
And are there things that might need to be censored? Yes, copyright law is an actual thing and that needs to be taken in account of. If a DMCA request is submitted, it needs to be followed. You can't just take something that cost someone time and money to make, which they are charging to view and post it yourself, or worse, profit from it.
Actual dangerous things need to be taken down as well. If someone is claiming they have a cure for something and its proven not to work and can cause harm, that needs to be taken down. Now this is the hard part. Defining what constitutes dangerous content will be a hard thing, and it's not something I can answer. There's people far smarter than me who should be making this judgement.
I might be making a different stance than others, but right now, I don't see a better solution. Both the individuals and the site they are posting on need to have their right to free speech protected. Freedom of speech is important, but it is for everyone.