01/24/2021
“Thus, corporate policy at Google, Apple, Amazon, et al. becomes a second set of laws by which Americans must live.”
On January 6th, a group of rioters battled police and broke into the United States Capitol while members of Congress were certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Their motivation was to protest or forestall the end of the Trump presidency. There has, understandably, been much talk about the significance of the riot (which some style an “insurrection”). However, what has followed offers, in my opinion, an even keener sign of the times.
In the aftermath of the riot, a stunning number of private companies moved to ban, block, or suppress the now-former President and his followers from their services. The sheer number of companies and the near-synchronicity with which they acted is jarring and worth summarizing. Here is a brief, incomplete overview: On January 6th, Twitter temporarily suspended President Donald Trump’s personal