This is very serious stuff. If facebook suddenly throws a small business off of its godforsaken site, it can cripple a small business.
You are addressing stuff of vital importance.
Since my digital-technical skills are minimal, I want to address this problem from a few perspectives:
A) Legal
i) It might be great if small businesses could bring suit for "tortious interference with business relations." If A does something which can cripple B's business relations, B may have a legally cognizable case. It has been a few years since I sued in this area of law (I once successfully sued for tortious interference with contract) and of course the law varies from state to state and you are in that vast Northern wilderness known as Canada, and I have no inkling of what the law in Canada might be. What I am saying here is tentative.
ii) Freedom of Speech. Of course, generally one cannot sue a private company on freedom of speech grounds. The US constitution says the State can't deny one freedom of speech. It does not say private companies can't deny one freedom of speech.
HOWEVER, there is a big exception: If a private company is so vast and powerful that speech can only be articulated through that company, then the company is as huge as the government and the restraints that operate against the govt. also operate against that company. For example
a) in a 1944 case, a company wanted to tear down political leaflets off of a fence or support holding a traffic light. The Supreme Court said the company could not. The town in question was what was known as a company town. The company owned everything in town including the streets, the sidewalks and all the businesses. To exercise speech, people had to have access to company property.
b) in 1971, a guy went into a shopping mall wearing a T shirt that said, "Fuck the Draft." Company security guards threw him out. The Supreme Court ruled that he had he right to wear the shirt. The Court said that although the mall was private property, it was, in a sense, the new American main street. There was no mainstreet as there were no sidewalks, just highways. As the new American main street, the mall was now assuming a public function and was the one venue where ideas and sentiments could be aired. The mall was as prominent as the State and had to abide by the first amendment's bar on governmental suppression of speech.
Since facebook is now like main street morphed into the 21st century, perhaps the first amendment should inhibit facebook's right to punish and silence people.
Your compliment is very kind, but I don't know if I deserve it.
As I said, my legal commentary is based on what I learned some time ago. The law constantly changes and the law varies from place to place., e.g., what was valid in New York in 2000 may have zilch in terms of applicability to someone in California or Canada in 2022.
You are the one who deserves the thanks. I did not think of the problem you mentioned until I read this article. Facebook really has gargantuan powers. Facebook can put a business in its coffin with one hostile click on a computer.
That's why I wrote my comment about legal remedies. People really should unite to prevent facebook from amassing unwarranted and excessive power.
One last related item:
At the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th century, Progressives realized that the power of new, vast corporate enterprises meant that the government had to rise and shine and spread the light of reform,. For example, railroads were killing farmers and agricultural poverty reached record levels (The Wizard of Oz was a satire on economic problems of the era: The tin man was the industrial proletariat, the scarecrow represented starving farmers and the yellow brick road satirized the "free silver" movement, a plan to inflate and stimulate the economy by making silver negotiable as money)
For example, the FDA was born because a company was selling a product, to help infants fall asleep, that contained OPIUM.
I think today we need a new progressive movement to tamp down on the excesses of internet titans like facebook
Sorry if my posts are excessive and self indulgent.
This is very serious stuff. If facebook suddenly throws a small business off of its godforsaken site, it can cripple a small business.
You are addressing stuff of vital importance.
Since my digital-technical skills are minimal, I want to address this problem from a few perspectives:
A) Legal
i) It might be great if small businesses could bring suit for "tortious interference with business relations." If A does something which can cripple B's business relations, B may have a legally cognizable case. It has been a few years since I sued in this area of law (I once successfully sued for tortious interference with contract) and of course the law varies from state to state and you are in that vast Northern wilderness known as Canada, and I have no inkling of what the law in Canada might be. What I am saying here is tentative.
ii) Freedom of Speech. Of course, generally one cannot sue a private company on freedom of speech grounds. The US constitution says the State can't deny one freedom of speech. It does not say private companies can't deny one freedom of speech.
HOWEVER, there is a big exception: If a private company is so vast and powerful that speech can only be articulated through that company, then the company is as huge as the government and the restraints that operate against the govt. also operate against that company. For example
a) in a 1944 case, a company wanted to tear down political leaflets off of a fence or support holding a traffic light. The Supreme Court said the company could not. The town in question was what was known as a company town. The company owned everything in town including the streets, the sidewalks and all the businesses. To exercise speech, people had to have access to company property.
b) in 1971, a guy went into a shopping mall wearing a T shirt that said, "Fuck the Draft." Company security guards threw him out. The Supreme Court ruled that he had he right to wear the shirt. The Court said that although the mall was private property, it was, in a sense, the new American main street. There was no mainstreet as there were no sidewalks, just highways. As the new American main street, the mall was now assuming a public function and was the one venue where ideas and sentiments could be aired. The mall was as prominent as the State and had to abide by the first amendment's bar on governmental suppression of speech.
Since facebook is now like main street morphed into the 21st century, perhaps the first amendment should inhibit facebook's right to punish and silence people.
Great comment, David. Thank you for the legal education!
Your compliment is very kind, but I don't know if I deserve it.
As I said, my legal commentary is based on what I learned some time ago. The law constantly changes and the law varies from place to place., e.g., what was valid in New York in 2000 may have zilch in terms of applicability to someone in California or Canada in 2022.
You are the one who deserves the thanks. I did not think of the problem you mentioned until I read this article. Facebook really has gargantuan powers. Facebook can put a business in its coffin with one hostile click on a computer.
That's why I wrote my comment about legal remedies. People really should unite to prevent facebook from amassing unwarranted and excessive power.
One last related item:
At the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th century, Progressives realized that the power of new, vast corporate enterprises meant that the government had to rise and shine and spread the light of reform,. For example, railroads were killing farmers and agricultural poverty reached record levels (The Wizard of Oz was a satire on economic problems of the era: The tin man was the industrial proletariat, the scarecrow represented starving farmers and the yellow brick road satirized the "free silver" movement, a plan to inflate and stimulate the economy by making silver negotiable as money)
For example, the FDA was born because a company was selling a product, to help infants fall asleep, that contained OPIUM.
I think today we need a new progressive movement to tamp down on the excesses of internet titans like facebook
Sorry if my posts are excessive and self indulgent.
Awesome, I love reading your comments, 🙏