[curun1r]

> freedom of speech is the right to articulate one's opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship

Yes!

> or societal sanction

No! This is absolutely not the case. If you call someone the N-word, you should expect to be treated as a racist by society. Call someone a fag and expect to be treated as a homophobe. Freedom of speech does not guarantee the right to speech without any consequence. The government can imprison, tax and has many other abilities not granted to Shopify. For that reason, dissenting speech must be protected from them in a way that's fundamentally different than the way it must be protected from Shopify. But non-governmental actors absolutely do have a role in guiding speech to be more civil and create the society we want to live in. We do that through social pressure rather than with force majeur. It's that crucial difference that requires protection from the government but not from Shopify.

> Not once does Lütke mention the First Amendment

Except that he does. He quotes the ACLU talking about speech protected by the first amendment:

  ... Constitutional rights must apply to even the most unpopular groups
  if they’re going to be preserved for everyone.