In removing U.S. President Donald Trump from their services, Big Tech companies like Twitter and Facebook have firmly established the principle that they own their platforms and they will decide who gets to speak there. This brings them into uncharted territory, raising profound questions about freedom of speech and corporate responsibility. Social media platforms create the illusion of being public spaces, but they are what they are: private property. They can set rules of behavior, and just as the owner of a bar can kick out an unruly patron, they have now shown that they can remove people who do not follow their rules.
That principle seems fine, but the question is how to apply it consistently. Trump’s Jan. 6 speech incited his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol—an unprecedented attack—while legislators went through the formalities of declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. But Trump’s call to action was hardly the first time he had said something incendiary on social media. So the explanations and justifications of the companies in removing him sounded self-servingly cynical; like a weather vane, they appeared to be responding to the shift in the political wind.
