I don't think there really are "nuances" about what the owners can and cannot legally do. There are nuances about the decisions about people that are willing to participate in the website however.
Say I own twitch, can't I just shut it down? Maybe I mismanaged it, maybe it isn't profitable, maybe it isn't profitable enough to make it worth the trouble, maybe I want to make a statement, maybe I am bored, maybe I am sick. The point is the effect on the users would be the same. If you can't make it illegal for me to shut it down (on the premises that it would risk my users' livelihood) then you can't make it illegal for me to kick users out (on the same premise). So yes, people depending on MY service to earn a living has a lot of thinking and diversifying to do, it is not as risk-free as it seems, and there are nuances around that. In the end though, the owner(s) do and should have the last word.
> If you can't make it illegal for me to shut it down (on the premises that it would risk my users' livelihood) then you can't make it illegal for me to kick users out (on the same premise)
> In the end though, the owner(s) do and should have the last word.
Thats not exactly true. A relevant counter example would be to look at other major communication services. For example, take telecom. A telephone company cannot just kick users off of the platform, for any reason. They have to follow common carrier laws.
Obviously, the law would have to be changed, in order for these laws to apply to these new platforms.
But, unrelated to any specific moderation policy, I think that there is a very nuanced and interesting discussion to be had, about how common carrier laws have not really kept up to date with some of the many new internet platforms these days.
Say I own twitch, can't I just shut it down? Maybe I mismanaged it, maybe it isn't profitable, maybe it isn't profitable enough to make it worth the trouble, maybe I want to make a statement, maybe I am bored, maybe I am sick. The point is the effect on the users would be the same. If you can't make it illegal for me to shut it down (on the premises that it would risk my users' livelihood) then you can't make it illegal for me to kick users out (on the same premise). So yes, people depending on MY service to earn a living has a lot of thinking and diversifying to do, it is not as risk-free as it seems, and there are nuances around that. In the end though, the owner(s) do and should have the last word.