[aylmao]

> If they get credit for the Arab Spring, they should get credit for this, too.

Facebook shouldn't get credit for the Arab Spring. They didn't start it, they were just one of many mediums used for its organization and dissemination.

What they and all social media get credit for is existing as a communications platform that's largely uncensored.

[vkou]

If the government controlled in what order you saw things on television, or whether or not you saw some of them at all, would you call television largely uncensored?

Why does Facebook's algorithmic ranking of feed content get a free pass, here?

[closeparen]

Television is censored. So is radio. In exchange for the use of spectrum, media companies agreed to restrictions on content. Even beyond the injunctions against certain behavior (swearing, nudity, etc.) broadcasters are subject to positive responsibilities about how they use their airtime. TV networks are legally obligated to run news programming.

The FCC is insulated enough from partisan politics that its censorship doesn't run along partisan lines, and is therefore not very controversial. But TV is absolutely censored.

[aptwebapps]

Broadcast television is probably censored everywhere, but we're talking about Myanmar (and in this subthread, India) so the FCC is not highly relevant.