For John, BLUF: Social Media platforms banning the President of the United States, while giving a free pass to dictators around the world, is a case of an abusive industry exercising a little too much muscle. Nothing to see here; just move along.
Here is the sub-headline:
YouTube hasn’t deplatformed Trump directly, but they’ve doubled down on their promise to penalize channels that post “false claims,” which is awfully subjective.
From Legal Insurrection, by Ms Kemberlee Kaye, 7 January 2021.
Here is the lede plus:
In response to the breach of the Capitol building, several online platforms have deplatformed Trump.And, of course, Twitter has suspended President Trump's account in response to the riot on Capitol Hill.Facebook began by removing Trump’s video asking protesters to return home with peace and joy in their hearts and has now banned Trump’s accounts from posting at least until the post-inauguration transition is complete.
Zukerberg posted the following Wednesday:
The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence.
Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.
Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.
We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.
This "banning" of the President from Social Media seems like a coup. A key to most successful coups is the seizure of communications facilitiers. Tht is what is happening here. The President is being isolated. His message to supporters to be calm and peaceful is being suppressed by Social Media. How strange.
In the mean time the tyrants across the globe get a free ride:
China Daily: Study says gender equality promoted among Uygur women, ‘making them no longer baby-making machines.’I am appalled. Worse, I am concerned for our Democracy going forward. I don't see our new Democratic Party leaders healing this riff any time soon.
Hat tip to the InstaPundit.
Regards — Cliff
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