Are we too quick to call everything censorship on social media?

I have been noticing a pattern in this community and elsewhere where people flag any kind of moderation as a free speech violation. But last week I saw a post get removed from a forum because it was flat out false information about a medical treatment. The user screamed censorship, but the platform has a policy against health misinformation. I get that platforms can be too aggressive sometimes, but is there a point where we need to distinguish between actual government backed silencing and just a private company enforcing its own rules? I have seen multiple cases now where people confuse a ban for hate speech with a ban for political opinion. How do we draw that line in a way that is fair to everyone? Has anyone else noticed this blurring of what counts as a real violation?

2 comments

2 Comments

hannah_williams16d ago

Saw something similar happen in a cooking group I'm in where a guy got banned for posting a recipe that was literally just salt on a plate and calling it a gourmet meal. He was mad about censorship but really the mods were just tired of his trolling. The line gets blurred when people wrap their nonsense in the flag of free speech.

nina_clark16d ago

Did you read that article about the guy who tried to sell ice cubes as art?