What's worse, Facebook bans or government regulations?

Thursday, Facebook decided that he was tired of it. He banned several accounts that he described as "dangerous" on his platforms. Among the far-right and anti-Semitic figures on Facebook and Instagram were Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer and Paul Nehlen.

Although this decision has attracted much criticism, including from Donald Trump Jr., Facebook is a private company and, as such, can absolutely enforce its terms of service by banning Internet access. It is a right that defenders of self-proclaimed freedom should support rather than attack.

For Facebook and other social media platforms, there are many reasons to ban certain content, even if the reputation for neutrality or the maintenance of freedom of expression weighs on reputation.

The proliferation of violent and unpleasant content is further damaging to their reputation, while driving users away and raising serious ethical issues for advertisers. As a result of the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, for example, Facebook was criticized for not doing enough to quickly dismount the video and pledged to better monitor the content.

While this decision and the bans that followed clearly set off alarm bells for free speech, those who might applaud the government's intervention should consider an alternative. Indeed, calls for government controls to determine who should be allowed to post on a privately controlled platform will likely be as pernicious as those that attempt to restrict the way a company manages its own platforms and enforces contracts of use.

Distrusting regulations of both types, Facebook is trying to navigate between the government on the one hand and its users and shareholders on the other. For now, this means a ban on some of the most egregious violators of company-defined standards. This is not a perfect solution, but it is a decent compromise. After all, Facebook is different from the traditional public square, even though it has become the centerpiece of the current debate over freedom of expression and social media.