Why does the US government exist? The only reason is to protect the rights of the citizens.
Once upon a time, the rights of citizens only protected them from the federal government's actions. States could (and did) infringe on these rights. Corporations were much less powerful at this time, so were not much of a concern.
We ended up fighting a war over this, and one result was the 14th amendment, which binds the states to also protect these important rights.
Now a days, corporations are powerful enough to infringe these rights. We've dealt with this in the past when "trust busting" was more of a thing. There is established precedent for not allowing monopolies to infringe on people's rights.
There's nothing special about the "private sector" that allows big corporations to infringe people's rights without due process.
I’m sad to see this downvoted. I’m not entirely sure I agree with your point, as I think the gulf between “profit-seeking corporation” and “democratically-elected government” is a lot wider than the one we jumped between Federal and state government for the 14th. That said, I like that this line of thinking made me question some assumptions I didn’t know I was even making before.
You do not have a right to use Twitter. Currently, in the US, you do not even have a right to use the Internet. Twitter and ISPs may decide not to service you. As it pertains to Internet services specifically, these services are also allowed to moderate content that you post. You are not guaranteed a right for them to host your speech and show it to the world.
If you have an issue with how Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, et al. moderate content, you are completely free to create your own Internet service which you may moderate as you see fit.
The US government exists to insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and promote the general welfare. The government is not interested in protecting the rights of citizens. Instead, it is the rights of citizens which are meant to protect us from the government. Other laws may dictate how businesses are allowed operate but the first amendment absolutely does not apply to private businesses.
During the civil rights era, private businesses infringed on people's rights with state government backing. People with the wrong skin color were forbidden from being in certain restaurants or sitting in certain seats, etc.
These were private companies infringing on rights.
Again, you are conflating rights granted by the constitution with legislation that dictates how businesses must operate. Racial discrimination in public accommodations, like those that you mentioned, was outlawed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964[1]. In that case, those private companies were explicitly breaking federal law. Rights granted in the constitution are separate and are only intended to protect citizens from the government.
The constitution does not grant rights It merely enumerates some of the rights we have.
The civil rights act did not make up any rights - it created law to enable enforcement and protection of rights people already had, but which were being infringed - both by states and by private businesses.
The social media monopolies are infringing on our rights. There may not as yet be a legal remedy for that, but it seems likely that there will be, as in many ways these companies are more powerful and wield more influence over people than governments do.
I think that you have a general misunderstanding on what a "right" is in the eyes of the law[1]. Furthermore, you appear to also have a misunderstanding of the differences between natural rights and legal rights[2].
> The social media monopolies are infringing on our rights
The right to free speech is not a natural right; nor does it apply to anything but freedom from government persecution on the basis of speech. Freedom of speech is a right that is granted by the constitution and has been further defined by case law over the past 250 years. The Supreme Court has pointed out that private companies are not subject to protections enumerated in the constitution, which, again, only apply to the government[3].
Once upon a time, the rights of citizens only protected them from the federal government's actions. States could (and did) infringe on these rights. Corporations were much less powerful at this time, so were not much of a concern.
We ended up fighting a war over this, and one result was the 14th amendment, which binds the states to also protect these important rights.
Now a days, corporations are powerful enough to infringe these rights. We've dealt with this in the past when "trust busting" was more of a thing. There is established precedent for not allowing monopolies to infringe on people's rights.
There's nothing special about the "private sector" that allows big corporations to infringe people's rights without due process.