Big Tech’s post-insurrection backlash against U.S. President Donald Trump and the right-wing online incitement machine were unprecedented. Within days, Facebook and Twitter locked Trump’s accounts. Then Shopify, Twitch, Snapchat, and others followed suit. Stripe and PayPal cut off payment processing for Trump material. Google Play and Apple’s App Store removed the app Parler for its refusal to moderate its increasingly violent content. Amazon Web Services followed by kicking Parler off its data storage. The cascade eviscerated a big chunk of the far-right pro-Trump internet.
There are three conclusions to draw about this whiplash reaction. First, Big Tech’s raw power to redirect online discourse. Second, the opacity, capriciousness and inconstancy with which they wield that power. Third, that Big Tech companies—some of the world’s most astute political actors—are nervous that the rules governing internet capitalism are about to drastically change.
