I don’t disagree with some of your points, but I also don’t believe that Reddit really ever said it was a free speech platform. Twitter has for sure (because of Elon), but Reddit has really been a “front page of the internet” believer. They felt more like an aggregator and newspaper. Which definitely has a lot of censoring and opinion blocking in the world of print too. I mean, remember when they got rid of jailbait or space dicks, was that a speech problem? Some felt it was, but it was definitely something we all realized was wrong and that a private company tries to protect its “brand.” Obviously being on Lemmy and leaving after the API change means I didn’t agree with them and I found another place that aligned more with my values.
You holding that sign up though is legal, however only on public property, and only if you’re taking up less than half of the sidewalk and not in the path of traffic. You also cannot use an amplified device (unless you’ve filled out the permit) and your sign cannot be on any wood or metal sticks. If you step onto private property you can be asked to leave or removed. That last one is also something that just like a website isn’t restricting your right to free speech, just that a specific building/business/owner doesn’t want to be in support of it.
In the end, why are we all still talking about Reddit. This site definitely has users that love going back to their crazy ex to fuck and then realizing it’s still crazy like as if it would change.
I actually think regulation is how we got them, but not in a known bad way. Originally car headlights had little to no standards, but eventually people realized they’re important to safety and so testing started happening to ensure that headlights met a minimum safety rating. The problem is that the testing was done from the drivers seat, and based on light projection in front of the vehicle rather than taking into account other humans looking toward it. I’ve been a big proponent of LED lights that dim when stopped or slowing, and even halogen/ultra dim lights for city driving, and keeping LEDs for brights. LEDs have really made a lot of brights basically useless, but the brightness, and harshness of color temperature is absolutely detrimental to other drivers.