[dcow]

To me there’s way more nuance than simply the question “is big tech a common carrier?”

I don't really care if Google discriminates in its search results to provide a better user experience. If I don’t like that UX I can use another search engine.

But what about Twitter? Twitter is not just discriminating in tweet search results, they deplatform Tweet authors and organizations (e.g. Unity 2020) on a whim and with no recourse. The analog would be if Google just deleted your website if your page rank fell too low.

IMO Google looks like an information broker and Twitter/Facebook look like common carriers of tweets/posts.

If your argument is that we can’t call them either then it seems like it’s on you to suggest a framework that does correctly classify content platforms.

[itsdrewmiller]

Twitter and Facebook both have the same argument as google does about their proprietary feed algorithms being their primary value prop and the opposite of common carrier expectations. Google also bans advertisers from time to time. Banned users have the recourse of suing for discrimination, but given the vast majority of these people are racists and trolls, they are unlikely to win those lawsuits.