The rise of ‘deplatform’
The Atlantic that social media had no choice but to suspend Donald Trump’s accounts. “Though they hesitated to moderate or deplatform Trump for much of his presidency, he’s pushed them to somewhat pointed action in the past several months,” Tiffany wrote. She also linked to an October 2020 article of hers, though that previous article did not use the word “deplatform,” which had not yet gained traction outside of social media.
Trump’s banishment from social media, however, led to an explosion of uses of “deplatform,” a verb meaning to deny someone the ability to post on social media. Already this year, according to a worldwide English-language Nexis search, “deplatform” has appeared in more than three hundred news stories a total that exceeds those of the preceding three years combined, and suggests that “deplatform” is here to stay. Even the