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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 18, 2023

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All I can think of is TechDirt's Content Moderation Learning Curve. The convergence of large social media platforms on similar content moderation rules is less due to shared ideological capture than a combination of legal, financial, and social pressures all pointing in a similar direction.

The convergence of large social media platforms on similar content moderation rules is less due to shared ideological capture than a combination of legal, financial, and social pressures all pointing in a similar direction.

But these "social pressures", aren't they also a form of ideological capture among the institutions that exert said pressure on social media platforms? I don't have the data on me, but I've seen plenty of evidence that democratic voters form an absolute majority among key institutions (top university faculty, judiciary, media, big tech, federal govt employees etc).

But these "social pressures", aren't they also a form of ideological capture among the institutions that exert said pressure on social media platforms?

Undoubtedly some of the social pressure on social media platforms come from institutions ideologically captured by Democrats, but hardly all of it.

top university faculty

Seems like it.

judiciary

As of Jan 2021 the federal judiciary was actually majority appointed by Republicans although only slightly and this has probably reversed since. On the other hand, SCOTUS has been majority Republican appointed since, like, the 1960's

Overall, in the 54 years since Nixon first took office, there have been 20 confirmed appointments to the court, counting chiefs and associate justices. Republican presidents have had 15 of them, Democratic presidents just five.

media

This obviously depends on the media entity. NYT or CNN? Sure. Fox News or OANN? Definitely not.

big tech

Probably

federal govt employees

Are probably more split than you suppose, especially with respect to the Senate.