The government is bound by acquisition processes for these large contracts: they put out RFPs and companies compete for the contract. All Google has to do is not bid for the next contract.

I think it's kind of past the point of wondering what somebody can and cannot do according to the law? There used to be the constitution and stuff.

Yes.

They could be nationalized in times of war, but that hasn't happened since WW2 I think.

The antitrust case and other regulatory arm twisting is more to worry about.

Pretty sure the 13th Amendment guarantees this, in theory. (Corporations aren't natural persons, but forcing a corporation to provide a service boils down to forcing people to provide a service.)

Yes they absolutely can. Providing services to the government is strictly a choice made by the business.

That is what they did to those protesting Google’s complicity in Israel actions in Gaza. But it is unclear if they hold Palestinian sympathy in the same contempt as sympathy for fellow Americans but we will see.

[flagged]

[flagged]

[flagged]

[dead]

> robbed the original community from its purpose.

> only vaguely HN related

This story is entirely under HN's remit. HN’s purpose is explicit. It is not “keep things comfortable.” It is “curious, informed discussion of what matters in and around tech.”

When a top tech firm is materially enabling coercion or violence, and even dodging the press over it, that is a tech story first and foremost. And it matters.

Besides which: Your argument is very old, and has been rejected many, many, many times.

> there are so many communities that have fallen, and I don't want to lose another

What killed r/technology wasn't 'politics'. It was mass censorship, shit mods, brigading, clickbait farming, and allowing the toxic elements to spread bs unchecked. You know, like when you let any users flag stories and then unaccountable mods with no logs very selectively unflag the ones they like.

Censoring 'political' topics just makes the smartest and coolest people leave. And our tech companies have been complicit collaborators in far too many serious crimes lately to trust things to work themselves out without even looking at them.

Tech companies have been deeply entangled with states and coercive institutions for decades, now up to the point of genocide, concentration camps, and masked thugs with "total federal immunity". Pretending that’s off-limits isn't community preservation. It's wilful ignorance and must be firmly rejected.

Some things we can’t just ignore.

These aren’t opt-in issues.

I always thought it was ridiculous that HN had a "no politics" rule. It is arrogance to think you can segment "politics" and confine it and then be above it somehow by using this as an excuse to not have discussions that make you uncomfortable. Everything is political.

You're so right, the problem is not Trump posting fake AI videos of the Obamas as apes. That's actually very normal. The real problem is anyone who talks about it outside of r/politics.