Thread by @mala

I wish I could untangle Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Google's actions today and whether they're related to a sudden escalation in the seriousness of Trump's rhetoric, or whether they're related to the fact that they'll face a Democratic congress and executive in the U.S. shortly

I've argued that those in power should be treated with the same standards as anyone else on social media, because otherwise you just end up with arbitrary and inequitable decisions. And arbitrary actions can be used as a political (or popularist) weapon

Large social media platforms have no transparency, notification, little right of appeal. It's a breeding ground for paranoia about political manipulation, exactly because it offers *room* for political manipulation.

Let's be clear: I think Twitter et al blocked Trump today because they (collectively) were freaked out by the Capitol attack. I don't think the Democrats needed to, or did, put pressure on them. But they definitely kept Trump up for years out of political expediency.

And as soon as one company did so, the others had political cover to do the same. This has been about politics for years. Which means we ultimately have to gauge it, and its consequences in political terms.