What laws allow social media companies to &quot;choose&quot; who to serve, but not brick-and-mortar business?
<p>I'll say right away, I know this hot topic is politically divisive, but I'm hoping for a neutral explanation by people with experience.</p>
<p>Social media companies (in addition to banks, payment processors, website hosting services, and more) are increasingly picking and choosing which clients they will serve.  This picking and choosing is, I don't think can be denied at this point, based at least somewhat on the political opinions of these clients.</p>
<p>In response to this, a common defense is &quot;They're private companies, so they can pick and choose who they want to serve.&quot;  But this argument holds no water for most other businesses; for example if I run a coffee shop, I can't pick and choose who to serve based on what political paraphernalia they're wearing (or at least, I'm pretty sure I can't).  In general, the government forces American businesses to run any number of ways based on the laws they pass.  We don't live in a libertarian / anarcho-capitalist environment, so this &quot;They're private companies&quot; argument has always struck me as disingenuous.</p>
<p>I know it's a general question, but to what extent can companies pick and choose (that is, discriminate) what clients to serve?  What legal rights or contracts allow these companies to discriminate in ways that other companies can't?  If discrimination based on political opinions is NOT legal, how have these companies legally obfuscated their intentions?</p>

<p>One law is</p>
<blockquote>
<p>42 U.S.C. §2000a (a)All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of <em>public accommodation</em>, as defined in this section, without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nothing about political opinion. Also, note that a web site is not a &quot;public accommodation&quot; so the rules can be different.</p>
<p>Feel free to start a both a coffee shop and a web site that do not serve socialists.</p>

<p>I'm not sure the premise of this question is accurate. My understanding is that anti-discrimination laws say things like: 'you can't choose to serve only white customers at your restaurant.' I bet if Twitter tried to become 'whites only,' that would also be illegal (and rightly so).</p>
<p>Twitter and Facebook have certain rules about what you can and can't use their platforms to do. These are essentially rules of decorum. I think they're no different from a restaurant having a 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' rule, which, as long as it's applied equally to all would-be patrons, is perfectly legal.</p>

internet discrimination social-media