I don't think there are very many true free speech absolutists. We mostly hold positions as a means to an end, not as an end in themselves. Meaning, people declaring themselves free speech absolutists do so not because for them it's Free Speech, consequences be damned. But because they believe Free Speech is the way to the society they want to see.
A good thought exercise is to try to imagine what would happen if an absolutist of any kind got their way in every way possible, and still hated the results.
Really committing to free speech absolutism requires a very strong stomach very few people truly have. Back when Voat was a thing it was such a cess-pit that when r/TheDonald tried to move there, they couldn't take it. Voat disdained moderation, and as a result filtered for the kind of person who can look at a feed full of conspiracies, the most open and clear hate, fascism, racism and antisemitism, and every kind of porn that's banned on Reddit, and not even flinch at it. The denizens of r/TheDonald were used to setting rules on their turf, and were relentlessly mocked for it until they crawled back to Reddit.
Voat eventually died. I think probably because in the end even the creators grew disillusioned with the community they had created, or because they realized it was only a matter of time before they got into serious legal trouble.
A good thought exercise is to try to imagine what would happen if an absolutist of any kind got their way in every way possible, and still hated the results.
Really committing to free speech absolutism requires a very strong stomach very few people truly have. Back when Voat was a thing it was such a cess-pit that when r/TheDonald tried to move there, they couldn't take it. Voat disdained moderation, and as a result filtered for the kind of person who can look at a feed full of conspiracies, the most open and clear hate, fascism, racism and antisemitism, and every kind of porn that's banned on Reddit, and not even flinch at it. The denizens of r/TheDonald were used to setting rules on their turf, and were relentlessly mocked for it until they crawled back to Reddit.
Voat eventually died. I think probably because in the end even the creators grew disillusioned with the community they had created, or because they realized it was only a matter of time before they got into serious legal trouble.