Facebook is not so much about freedom as it is “like an ideologically motivated virtual totalitarian regime.”

We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. And we recognize that the world’s information infrastructure will become what we and others make of it. Now, this challenge may be new, but our responsibility to help ensure the free exchange of ideas goes back to the birth of our republic.

Iranian authorities have warned opposition supporters against using text and e-mail messages to organise protest rallies.

Britain's incoming government would be well advised to purge all starry-eyed cyber-utopians - like Gordon Brown's "social media guru" - from its roster of advisers.

The case has also deepened a profound split among liberals, dividing those who view government regulation of political speech as an affront to the First Amendment from those who believe that unlimited corporate campaign spending is a threat to democracy.