Gab has been getting a lot of backlash for its strict stance on pornography claiming that they are still in support of free speech but banning all pornography on their platform. Let’s talk about it.
It has taken a turn for the worse as the CEO has begun denouncing Twitter users and moralizing at people his own personal religious views from the company account. It’s one thing to hold certain values and it’s another to actively push them on others.
I honestly think that porn should be kept on porn sites because if our social platforms are full of pornography and explicit content then how can children use it, how can you use it at work, or in any professional environment? Social media is supposed to be about communication, not about pornography. For the same reason that pornography websites are not social media platforms, I don’t think social media platforms should be pornography websites. You have to also consider that they have to pay to host the content and when you’re introducing so much more legal issues and liabilities which will make it much more challenging for users to use the platform anywhere at any time as social media platforms should be used, then it’s much easier and more sensible to just outright rid of porn. You must also consider that it’s hard to prove consent, age, etc. in short clips and if they had to manually review it, it would be extremely cumbersome.
For me, free speech includes everything related to unrestricted speech including hate speech. But pornography has many limitations and legal restrictions that one could then argue it’s not necessarily speech or that it wouldn’t be included in free speech given all the legal restrictions already imposed on it.
After watching TheQuartering’s video on this I’ve since walked back my original position that pornography isn’t necessarily speech and while I don’t in any way see it as foundational to free speech, I don’t believe there can be any exceptions for what is or isn’t free speech outside the legal definition https://youtu.be/qXWSEVm2qmk
I am totally open to both sides of this argument and to having my mind changed. I’m still slightly leaning towards Gab’s side of this issue, but I don’t respect the arguments being made from a religious standpoint because religion has no authority on free speech. I also don’t respect the unprofessional behavior of the Gab account on Twitter and the behavior of the CEO regarding this topic.
That being said, I’d love to hear from you on what you think about all of this. Please leave a comment below. I will be sure to read and respond to them all. Thank you!
