[Traster]

That's not a 180. To show a 180 you need to show Ellen Pao also saying that “it’s a private company, they can do what they want”.

I don't think that was ever Ellen Pao's position. What you've done is taken two groups of people:

* People think that twitter is private and should do whatever it wants (hence can moderate if they like),

* People that think twitter has a big public influence and therefore has a responsibility to act in a certain way (ie, moderate a certain amount)

And claimed that these two positions are in opposition and therefore hypocritical. But there is no hypocrisy because they're not the same people, they just disagree.

[defen]

https://twitter.com/ekp/status/1322641942463700992

A straightforward reading of that tweet is "It's a private company, they can remove hate and harassment if they want."

[Traster]

I read that tweet as "People on this platform say that Twitter shouldn't remove hateful content because of the first amendment, but here's people literally breaking first amendment and you all seem to be quiet". She's not saying "Twitter can do what they want" she's saying "YOU say twitter is bound by the first amendment but don't actually seem to support the first ammendment"

[defen]

Her tweet from 1.5 years ago argues that the First Amendment does not prevent companies from removing hate from their platforms. That is true. Private companies can remove hate from their platforms and no one's first amendment rights have been violated.

Her WaPo editorial from 2.5 weeks ago argues that even though the First Amendment exists, the government should force Twitter to remove hate from their platform.

One could simply turn the charge of hypocrisy back on Ellen Pao - if she cares so much about the first Amendment (see the tweet that preceded the one I linked), why does she want the government to regulate speech on social media?

[Traster]

I don't think that's right, her tweet was saying "This is the standard you set, where are you". She's not endorsing it, she's saying you* endorse this standard, you defend it.