And what happens once is likely to happen again. After this, there’ll be pressure to get Facebook, Twitter and other companies to suppress other speech, such as fiery rhetoric against the police or oil companies or world trade authorities. People will demand: If you blocked A, why aren’t you blocking B? Aren’t you being hypocritical or discriminatory?
Consider, too, that the app for Parler, a social network popular with Trump supporters, was removed on Saturday by Apple and Google from their app stores, and blocked by its hosting company, Amazon Web Services, because of concerns that some of Parler’s users were inciting violence. Merely refusing to forbid certain speech, much of which is constitutionally protected, is now a basis for blacklisting.
Companies, moreover, are run by humans, subject to normal human failings. Mr. Trump’s suspension may have been motivated by a sincere desire to resist efforts “to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power,” as Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, put it. But other politicians might be suspended because their policies are bad for corporate profits or contrary to the owners’ political ideologies.
It’s only human nature for people to think the worst of their adversaries’ views — including by labeling them hate speech or fake news or incitement — while giving their allies the benefit of the doubt. And sometimes just the risk of suspension will pressure politicians to avoid taking positions a company dislikes.
Of course, we shouldn’t exaggerate the novelty of this. Newspapers and TV stations have long been able to decide which politicians to cover and which politicians’ op-eds to publish.
But there are hundreds of newspapers throughout the nation and several major TV networks. Facebook and Twitter have no major rivals in their media niches. The public relies on them as matchless mechanisms for unfiltered communication, including politicians’ communications with their constituents.
We also shouldn’t overstate the danger of corporate power. Facebook and Twitter, unlike the government, can’t send us to jail or tax us.