Should social media companies be regulated like newspapers, or should they be regulated like phone companies?

👍 Like newspapers (48%) – "Talking on a phone is communicated with one person, or at most, a small group. Posting on social media is communicated with large groups, many of whom you don’t know and didn’t necessarily ask to hear from you. Online is a broader method of communicating, like a newspaper."

• "Since when does a phone company sell advertising? That's the wrong business model for a website, which is essentially what "social media companies" are, not the descendants of Bell Telephone or Western union, but the descendants of AOL. The phone company is not restricted as to what messaging it carries, whereas social media may not provide service for crime (e.g. child abuse or political terror, illegal drug or weapons sales). They are private properties, not public services, and subject as such to certain restrictions and protections, as well."

"A phone call can be between two people so your private conversation isn’t projected to thousands of people. Social media, like a newspaper, can be seen by anyone and therefore reaches a much wider audience. A phone call isn’t meant to reach a huge crowd. Why else do we have laws in states saying you must ask to record a conversation?"

• "People, in general, are susceptible to falling prey to their own social media echo chambers. By allowing (or requiring) these companies to manage the content displayed by their services we're able to prevent them being used as tools of extremism. Also, some companies might choose to moderate very minimally, and if that's what people want they could theoretically choose that over a platform that might restrict their posts/feeds more dramatically."

"A private company should be able to set its own standards and rules. It’s not beholden to its users its users are beholden to them. Right in the beginning when you sign up to be on their platform you agree to their terms and conditions. If you don’t like their rules go to another platform"

👎 Like phone companies (35%) – "Social media companies are not like news papers that publish things and as a business take responsibility for what they write and publish. Social media companies are merely transmitting what their uses communicate via posting to the platform or writing to the platform. The social media company is the medium through which users communicate their own message."

• "Moderating is actually used as censoring, which is an un-American idea. Everybody should be able to speak and be heard. It's your decision if you want to listen to them. I don't want to be deprived of being able to hear differing viewpoints and argue or agree with them. That's how we grow in our critical thinking."

"I don't like the banning or censoring of speech in America. It's one of the the things that sets us apart from the rest of the world. Just because someone may have a differing opinion than myself, it doesn't give me, or anyone else, the right to silence them. Same goes for the social media platforms; they are a town square. And if those in charge were able to remove voices and opinions they deemed unworthy, the chances of everything becoming one sided is greater, and there's no room for discourse, civil or otherwise. I have found myself questioning and reevaluating long standing beliefs because of someone's well thought out argument. I have also had some of my beliefs strengthened because of same."

• "Social media was never created to be anything like a newspaper. If they want to act like a newspaper and moderate content, they should require a paid subscription to access the platform like most other newspapers and we would see use of those platforms drop exponentially overnight. Social media has always been a forum where people have gone to express their personal opinions and social media companies should not be allowed to decide which opinions are allowed to exist. There's a lot that many people don't agree with on social media but it acts as a litmus test for what is going on in society and I appreciate that diversity of thought."

🤷 Unsure/other (17%) – "Social media cannot be compared to older forms of communication because it’s not the same. Newspapers have limited people writing articles, and also editors and management to provide oversight and control. On top of that, one must have a subscription to that newspaper to read it. Telephone conversations are between a limited set of people (typically one calls another). But social media allows anyone to post anything on any topic with no expertise, no research, and no editors or management to edit or oversee; on top of that, any social media post can be seen by anyone anywhere. It only makes sense that new rules apply to social media."

• "I don't think they are really either. Social Media is a platform for individuals, and news sources, and companies to share thoughts, ideas and opinions. But people do use it as a place to get news, even if it isn't a news source in of itself. Social Media is its own category - neither a phone or a news source - and should be regulated according to its own merits. But that said, it should be regulated."