| | | " IT'S A GOD GIVEN RIGHT AS ENUNCIATED IN AMERICA'S CONSTITUTION IN THE FIRST AMENDMENT"
In the US, God apparently left the decision making to the owners of communication platforms. It's their God-given right to set the rules, unimpeded by the government.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
That means Congress can't make a law abridging SI's right to control the contents of its platform. It doesn't mean SI, google, or youtube can't make those rules. God works in mysterious ways, when it comes to free speech. Here's what She gave you....
There’s a misguided notion that as the supreme law of the land, the Constitution allows absolute freedom of expression. It doesn’t.
Section 16 contains the following limitation to freedom of expression: “The right in subsection (1) does not extend to propaganda for war; incitement of imminent violence; or advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes incitement to cause harm…”
In addition to the section 16 limitation, there is also section 36 of the Constitution, which allows for the limitation of all rights – provided it is done by a law of general application and is justifiable in an open and democratic society based on constitutional values. For example the Equality Act, Broad Based Economic Empowerment (BBEEE) Act and Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA).
It is excruciatingly simple and bears repeating: no matter who you are, if you spew hate speech, incite imminent violence or spew propaganda for war, you will find no refuge in the Constitution – whether you are speaking in person, a telephonic conversation, via email, on Twitter, Facebook messages, Instagram or YouTube comments or even the pages of Rapport.
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