Freedom of Speech vs. Customer Terms and Conditions

This is a post I've been wanting to share for some time and the recent events surrounding the attack on the Captial and moves made by other social media platforms has driven me to post this.

Let's start with the 1st Amendment and social media. The First Amendment reads that CONGRESS shall not make any LAW respecting an establishment of a religion of its free exercise. It also states that NO LAW should be passed limiting what we can and cannot say. Social media platforms, including RallyPoint are a privatly held company just like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and whatever other sites you may use to express yourself. Each of these services have terms and conditions that you agree to adhere to in trade to use their platform. A lot fo these sites use a third-party site hosting application like Amazon Web Services (AWS). These hosting partners hold their clients to a certain standard in order to be allowed to be hosted. RallyPoint, for example, is hosted on AWS. RallyPoint is also a monitored forum made up of selected user admins who monitor what is posted and take appropriate action when needed.

Now, I know a lot of users have taken issue with what the admins do or have not done. Some of you have asked me or blamed me for taking action(s) on the post. Facebook and Twitter differ because they use more compute learning to have this process automated. Neither way is 100% perfect. Yes, certain things slip through the cracks. As one of the admins, I can tell you it is very hard for a handful of admins to see every single post as they go up. We do this on a volunteer basis because we want to see this platform be successful. And while I may not personally agree with what is being posted, as long as the post isn't violating the terms and conditions I normally lean to letting it stand unless comments and other activity deem it necessary to remove some content. This is not infringing on your rights; this ensures all users are held to the same standard. Some things are pretty cut and dry. Using racist terms, threatening someone's life; posting private personal information, and other things will get noticed. RallyPoint reserves the right to remove any content with or without warning to the author.

Now, I'm sure some people here will point out how President Trump is being singled out because other people have posted some awful things and are still allowed to access the different platforms. And I agree with you. Personally, I feel that Facebook and Twitter went about things the wrong way but in the light of the attack a few weeks ago, I feel tempers were raised and people looked for a faster reaction rather than the best reaction. But it still can't be ignored that he used these platforms to get some of his supporters worked up to the point where they felt they had no choice but to do what they did. I do not condone their actions. I feel their actions will have a lasting effect on this country and it saddened me. But at the same time, if someone was on RallyPoint doing the same thing; I would see it as the same as posting a threat and I would remove the account immediately as well.

We all have to remember, there are rules in place and no one person is above those rules. As an admin, my actions are monitored and if it is seen that I am abusing my role, then I answer directly to the staff. But at the end of the day, I think we are all here for the same reason; to help each other.