Very few people want absolute free speech. E.g. "Fire" in a crowded theater, or "Give me your money or I'll kill you" are things that most people agree should be restricted.
As I've mentioned the purpose of free speech is not to allow any person to deliver any collection of words. The purpose of free speech is to allow people to discuss different ideas. When, and to the extent that, you prevent discussion of ideas, you are opposing the moral principle of free speech.
If someone were to insult my daughter they'd be communicating the idea "Let's fight". If someone were to tell me that they discovered my daughter were engaging in prostitution, not as an insult, but to talk about it with me, of course that would be very different. I'd want to know so I could talk to her about it and find out what was going in her life. The issue is not the words, but the intent. Insults aren't welcome in my home. Sharing important information certainly is.
I would have no complaint if insults were banned on Facebook, or people were prevented from being mean to one another. I would also have no complaint if larger accounts were subjected to harsher scrutiny than smaller ones. That's not what's happening though. Some people, with certain political ideas, are punished for nominally violating rules. This is an effort to prevent discussing these ideas and is, as I mentioned, absolutely a violation of free speech.
Facebook is, of course, legally free to violate free speech. That's their choice. Likewise, it's my choice to criticize it and point out hypocrisy to the extent that they claim to support the free exchange of ideas.
As I've mentioned the purpose of free speech is not to allow any person to deliver any collection of words. The purpose of free speech is to allow people to discuss different ideas. When, and to the extent that, you prevent discussion of ideas, you are opposing the moral principle of free speech.
If someone were to insult my daughter they'd be communicating the idea "Let's fight". If someone were to tell me that they discovered my daughter were engaging in prostitution, not as an insult, but to talk about it with me, of course that would be very different. I'd want to know so I could talk to her about it and find out what was going in her life. The issue is not the words, but the intent. Insults aren't welcome in my home. Sharing important information certainly is.
I would have no complaint if insults were banned on Facebook, or people were prevented from being mean to one another. I would also have no complaint if larger accounts were subjected to harsher scrutiny than smaller ones. That's not what's happening though. Some people, with certain political ideas, are punished for nominally violating rules. This is an effort to prevent discussing these ideas and is, as I mentioned, absolutely a violation of free speech.
Facebook is, of course, legally free to violate free speech. That's their choice. Likewise, it's my choice to criticize it and point out hypocrisy to the extent that they claim to support the free exchange of ideas.