Daily, I use: - Android (Google) - Chrome (Google) - WhatsApp (Facebook) - Reddit Of these, the only thing that's relatively easy for me to get rid of is Chrome: I replaced it with Firefox Quantum on both mobile and desktop, and although there are some issues, it isn't bad enough that I'd go back to Chrome. In case you are not aware, Google/Reddit/Facebook are censoring political speech which is their prerogative but I would not like to contribute to that if I can. So are you guys dropping these companies and if so, how are you replacing them? I think I may be able to replace Android with an open source alternative but will likely have to get another phone.
That's a nice quip, but this is exactly why freedom of speech is important. If the government prevented people from speech (which the Permanent Bureaucracy might be trying to do through these companies), you would never hear an idea that conflicted with The Anointed Few. So it's less about libs and more about what is important to me.
What's important to me is that companies remain free to exercise the policies they deem appropriate for their growth and things don't get conflated into some sort of freedom of speech impediment which is non-existent. I don't need to pay a monthly bill for broadband/data to exercise freedom of speech. What you are asking for is nationalizing an industry in order to have your way because you perceive a company has a political slant. When companies start pushing for bills that punish speaking out against Israel (for latest, see Texas teacher's debate), or for speaking out against corporate farming (ag-gag bills), then we have a problem.
Exclusive: In a world first, Facebook to give data on hate speech suspects to French courts https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-tech-exclusive-idUSKCN1TQ1TJ
"What's important to me is that companies remain free to exercise the policies they deem appropriate for their growth and things don't get conflated into some sort of freedom of speech impediment which is non-existent." That train has already left the building, see above. It just looks good to you because it further enables your narrative. What happens if/when the political polar opposite comes into power and shuts your narrative down. That's the problem with true freedom, we have to spend time holding our noses or breathing foul air.
If a major tech company is going to advertise that they are fair & balanced and say that they don't discriminate against anyone, they should be held to that standard legally. If they're going to use algorithms to push a political narrative, they should required to disclose this to the public. I've always avoided Google & social media based off the hardcore data-mining they do.
A political opposite won't own these tech companies because innovation is simply dominated by the left. Don't want your opinions coming back to bite you in the ass, don't post them on private servers. Hell, don't express them publicly as you may be recorded as well. Companies have been doing fake advertising and getting away with it far longer than Google has been around and we've never pushed to hold them to some government mandated standard.