09 January 2021

No Longer Afraid of the Trumpster Fire


Yes, he has been banned from shopify

Social media sites have begun falling all over themselves to ban Donald Trump. 

Twitter has now permanently banned Donald Trump, Facebook and Instagram have banned him as well, Reddit has shut down it's largest Trump Group, Shopify has taken done Trump merchandise vendors, and (rather ironically) TikTok has banned Trump.

While I do find this rather heartening on one level, I find it worrying on another.

Specifically, we are privatizing the arbiters of acceptable speech.

The limits to speech have gone from, "Shouting fire in a crowded theater," to, "Whatever worries Mark Zuckerberg."

4 comments :

Stephen Montsaroff said...

We have always privatized free speech -- or the press -- which is more to the point. The freedom has always been for the one who owns the means of communication.

Matthew Saroff said...

Yes, this is true, but the level of concentration over the past 20 years is unprecedented.

Quasit said...

It amazes me that so many on the left - or putatively on the left - fail to understand that once the power has been given and the precedent set, the power to censor and silence WILL be used against them as well. Not might. Will.

If anything, the left is more of a target for silencing by the oligarchy than the right ever was. The left might threaten the power and privilege of the elite. The right will only bolster the oligarchs.

Stephen Montsaroff said...

This is quite accurate. It's a poor sword that won't cut both ways. Simpler to just liquidate.

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