[writepub]

Just incidental that an overwhelming majority of tech giants' employees pledge allegiance to the left, while having unregulated, monopoly control over information dissemination? When was the last time an ISP de-platformed someone for their politics?

[TomMckenny]

So yes, the "anti-trust" talk is politically motivated? And proudly so because the employees have "pledged allegiance to the left"?

Strangely, there seems to be a very large number of people who decry google's information "monopoly" because of the blogs and youtube(!) videos they found while googling. A group that, given their power in government, is certainly not being oppressed.

And as a side note, I use no Alphabet product and obviously run an ad blocker. You'll find there are a great many technologists that do so. So, while there are certainly issues, the monopoly talk is obviously intentional hyperbole promulgated for political reasons.

As compared to, say ISPs which actually are monopolies. Or even Sinclair broadcasting which actually does control all media in some regions. But those genuine monopolies are not objectionable because they align politically with the party in power.

This pattern does correspond with some political systems but certainly not democratic, rule-of-law forms.

[18pfsmt]

Who is "pledging allegiance" and where are these pledges?

[bdhe]

It's a deeply disappointing realization that to a lot of people, basic human decency, integrity in disseminating truth, and a consistent view of facts has become a partisan issue because of the Republican party.

[dang]

Please don't take HN threads further into partisan flamewar.

Also, it looks like you've been using HN primarily for political battle. Important though those issues are, we ban accounts that do that on HN, because it's not what this site is for and destroys the curiosity that it is for. If you would review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and use HN as intended, we'd be grateful.

[sgnelson]

Or the fact that what was once a cornerstone of American Conservatism has now disappeared entirely, the free market economy. "I can't compete in the marketplace of ideas, I need government intervention, subsidies, import tariffs to break up those big bad 'leftist' companies, I'm not smart/strong/good enough to do it myself."

Reagan is spinning in his grave.

[TomMckenny]

They managed the amazing feat of being both anti-free market and anti-social-safety at the same time.

Perhaps a big-tent pro-democracy, pro-rule of law party will emerge as a counter weight somehow.

[18pfsmt]

The amount of illiberal ideas coming out of many people scares the shit out of me. Banning anything is not liberal, it's authoritarian.

[krp72yhj]

The alt right isn’t being deplatformed because of their politics, so much as because they are trolls. Triggering the libs necessarily antagonizes a significant portion of the user base, which tarnishes the brand and subtracts value.

Note that a mirror image of these types exist on the left, and they also tend to be despised. Again it’s not about the politics. It’s about being an unpleasant person.