There's no longer an app for that

1/11/21

Hi friends,

Happy Monday! Since Wednesday, we have been watching the consequences (or lack thereof) of the attack at the Capitol. Ninety people have been arrested for charges ranging from curfew violation to assaulting police officers to making death threats against Speaker Nancy Pelosi (The Hill). To put that number in perspective, 570 arrests were made following Black Lives Matter protests in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd. As Mona Chalabi writes, “These arrests show you what you already know - that appealing for Black rights is a crime, but violence to uphold white supremacy is state sanctioned” (Instagram).

Despite the lack of accountability at the federal level, some social media companies have acknowledged their role in the planning and execution of the siege. Notable, Twitter made the decision (after defending him for four years) to permanently suspend Trump’s account. Facebook also banned Trump at least until the end of his term. One of the most consequential shutdowns was that of Parler, a popular social media for the far-right that claims to prioritize free speech. Amazon and Apple have cut off access to Parler as of Sunday, a move that will force Parler to rebuild from scratch, a process that will take at least a week. In response, CEO John Matze wrote, “This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the marketplace…You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don’t count us out. #speakfreely” (Buzzfeed).

On Fox News, Representative Devin Nunes from California said, “There is no longer a free and open social media company or site for any American to get on any longer…Republicans have no way to communicate.” Is it really, as Nunes claims, a violation of civil rights? The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that hate speech is legally protected under the First Amendment. However, in Brandenburg vs. Ohio, the Court ruled that “Advocacy of force or criminal activity does not receive First Amendment protections if (1) the advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action, and (2) is likely to incite or produce such action.” Parler quickly become a platform for Trump fans to “incite imminent lawless action,” so its removal from the App Store seems appropriate.

The actions taken by Amazon, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, and more raise important questions about who has power over online speech. Today’s article from the New York Times is called: “In Pulling Trump’s Megaphone, Twitter Shows Where Power Now Lies.” Here’s an excerpt:

“We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now,” Kate Ruane, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a statement on Friday. “But it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions — especially when political realities make those decisions easier.”

Above all, Mr. Trump’s muzzling provides a clarifying lesson in where power resides in our digital society — not just in the precedent of law or the checks and balances of government, but in the ability to deny access to the platforms that shape our public discourse.

Mr. Dorsey and Mr. Zuckerberg’s names have never appeared on a ballot. But they have a kind of authority that no elected official on earth can claim.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave a comment below!

Love,

Claud