A lone Trump supporter Mark Leggiero, of Florida, N.Y., stands outside the New York state Capitol objecting the inauguration of President Joe Biden, Wednesday, January 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
We now have evidence that the biggest threat to American democracy was not the violent rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, but the bad-faith Republicans who work at the Capitol and spent two months fueling the Big Lie that the election was stolen in the first place. We also have evidence that ex-president Donald Trump could never have threatened democratic self-government without the help of social media companies. And we now have a case study on what happens to insurrectionists when private companies refuse to let them use those platforms to recruit, organize, and incite violence.
The cowards melt away. Deplatforming works. Delegitimizing people like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and Trump works. Inauguration Day proved that.
My fears of violence at the inauguration of President Joe Biden did not come to passthankfully. The day went off without a hitch. Covid-19 made this inauguration look different from all the recent ones, not white supremacists in red hats. Joe Biden still got to fist-bump Al Roker. Katy Perry got to sing Firework to fireworks. It was a beautiful day.
Its fair to say that putting 25,000 troops on the ground and locking down Washington, D.C., for a week probably played a bigger role in securing the inauguration than temporarily suspending Majorie Taylor Greene from Twitter. And one can only hope that militarizing the ceremonial functions of government does not become a new normal we all have to endure.
But there was no analogous show of might at state capitols, which the Capitol insurrectionists and other extremist groups had also threatened to attack. While state governments beefed up security ahead of the inauguration, they didnt go with the full military burlesque. However, on the day of reckoning, after the months of threats and maskless protests and plots to harm elected officials, nobody showed up to the rumble. There was no storm. There was no Kraken. There was no West Side Storyjust The Sound of Silence.
Well, I shouldnt say nobody. One person showed up in Albany, N.Y., to protest the election. A handful showed up in Sacramento, Calif., to do the same. One guy showed up in Vermont to protest the injustice of the automated customer service provided by AT&T. I tried to document the protests at state capitals around the country on Inauguration Day, because it turns out lone Trump supporter is actually my favorite phrase in the English language right now.Current Issue
Subscribe today and Save up to $129.
What changed between January 6, when these people gathered in significant numbers to invade the Capitol, and January 20, when these people couldnt maintain the intensity of John Cusak in Say Anything?
There are a lot of factors, but I would argue that the biggest one is that the social media companies took away their toys. One protester at the Texas state capitol in Austin even said so. Kaley Johnson, a reporter at the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram, cited a man who said he expected more people to be here, but was banned from Facebook so didnt know if anything was planned.
This is a truth that the social media companies have been denying all along in their attempts to justify making money off the forces that threaten democracy. Twitter and especially Facebook act like they are neutral platforms that are not responsible for the recruitment and aggregation of violent extremists. But weve seen report after report from experts in radicalization who have exposed how social media platforms are tools that are used to coordinate violence.
January 20 is what happens when these platforms take even minimal steps to block violent extremists from their services. After the Capitol siege, Facebook finally decided to ban QAnon accounts. It didnt even ban that many accounts: Reports suggest it restricted around 2,000 Facebook groups and around 10,000 Instagram accounts, barely a dent in its overall user base. Yet, scarcely two weeks after removing some of the most obvious bad users, the violent insurrectionists are already reduced to a couple of randos milling around state capitols with arts-and-crafts projects, wondering where the party went.
Facebook and Twitter also removed the most notorious bad user: Trump. The last 10 days have been blissfully void of his inane complaints about the election and terrifying love notes to white supremacists.
If you like this article, please give today to help fund The Nations work.
And look whats happened. The New York Times reports that the Proud Boys, who pledged themselves to Emperor Trump not three months ago, are now calling him a total failure. Removing Trump from his Twitter account for only two weeks has already helped to cause a rift between the militant forces of white supremacy and the head of the Republican Party.
I will always believe that if Twitter had banned Trumps account the moment he started lying about the results of the election, five people would not have died in a riot at the Capitol. I will also believe that if Twitter had banned Trumps account the moment he started lying about the coronavirus, hundreds of thousands of people might have been saved from this disease. And I will always believe that if Twitter had banned Trumps account the moment he started lying about Barack Obamas nation of birth, he would never have been president in the first place.
That tells us a lot more about Twitter and the social media universe that distorts reality than it does about Trump. After all, its not like the man was silenced. Its not like he, or anybody else who had their accounts blocked in the wake of January 6, were stripped of their First Amendment rights. Indeed, to me, the most beautiful thing about these state capitol protests around the inauguration was not the schadenfreude but how those protests proved that the First Amendment is alive and well, and people who exercise their rights pose no real threat to free elections or democratic self-government.
One guy showed up at the state capitol in Idaho holding up a sign that read, Legalize Arson. He was not, to my knowledge, arrested or harmed by the government. In Georgia, two people were spied holding a sign that said, I Hate My Government. No constitutional crisis ensued. A guy in North Carolina had a sign calling the new president an imposter. Another man, in Washington, brandished a sign calling him a traitor. No Tomahawk missiles were sent to their locations.
Thats the First Amendment in action, folks, and its a beautiful thing. It is wonderful to live in a country where you can walk up to the seat of the government, scream I hate you for a few hours, and return home, safely, in time for supper. The people who object to the state have every right to voice their objections. The right to peaceably assemble must not be abridged by the government.More from Mystal
But what were not going to do is collapse the difference between the governments criminalizing political speech (which it cannot do) and private companies banning violent extremists from their services (which they should have done already). What were not going to do is require private companies to give a platform to Republican elected officials so those officials can give aid, comfort, and legitimacy to those violent extremists. What were certainly not going to do is let people who are literally talking into a cable news microphone whine about being silenced. The First Amendment was not created so Republicans with presidential ambitions could play footsie with extremists while maintaining plausible deniability. If Republicans want to freely associate with these people, go, associate, and let everybody know what youre doing. Nobody will stop you. Just dont come crying to Twitter because its harder to slide into its DMs.
What stopped the Proud Boys, banned from social media, from showing up in-person at state capitols? What stopped the Congressional Seditionist Caucus from protesting alongside their people on Inauguration Day, instead of participating in the ceremony inaugurating a new president theyve spent two months claiming is illegitimate? What stopped Trump from holding a press conference, in the room in his old house that was designed for such a thing, after he was banned from Twitter? Twitter only went live in 2006. How do all these people think protests were organized in 2005? Do these white wing nuts think Paul Revere came home one night and said, Honey, Ive been deplatformed. Nobody will sell me a saddle. Curse you, King George, you mad, brilliant bastard.
Nah, the people who tried to rebel against the government on January 6 had the same suite of First Amendment protections that were available to them on January 20. What they lost over the intervening two weeks was courage. And nerve. And the false sense of importance generated by spending their lives in an online echo chamber. Its not fun plotting the violent overthrow of the government when nobody can like your rebellion. Its not cool to share baseless online conspiracies when your employer fires you the next day. Its not strong to share memes about harming elected officials when it gets you kicked off the force.
These people will be back, of course, because social media companies have a business incentive to bring them back. The platforms want to create echo chambers and news silos where extremists feel safe and can have their worldviews confirmed by the wisdom of the like-minded crowd. Telling people youre right keeps them glued to the screen, sharing their information and seeing advertisements. Telling people youre a crazy nut job makes them feel sad and put down their phones. I do not believe people like Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey have learned anything from the insurrection they helped foment that will prevent them from making the same mistakes in the future. Even if they have, there will always be another tech bro eager to grab the underserved white-supremacist market share.
Get unlimited access: $9.50 for six months.
Social media companies can never again act like theyre merely neutral players in the marketplace of ideas. Theyve created tools that can be used to radicalize people to commit violence. Theyve created a way for strongmen (and con men playing at strongman) to mobilize an insurrection against the government. If they refuse to police the forces theyve unleashed, our country will continue to be overrun with lies and violence.
But these problems are not intractable. The forces that led to Trumpism are not destined to thrive. Flush out the violent leaders of these movements from their online hidey-holes and leave their deranged followers to protest in peace. We can survive the people who are actually willing to show up to a protest; we cant survive people who have been sent to mount an insurrection. Showing up to a protest is a right, one that requires some measure of courage. Showing up to an insurrection is a violation of that right, and must be met with accountability and justice.
Inciting a mob online through social media is not a right. It is a privilege. One that social media companies should revoke. After four years of Trump, we now have proof that deplatforming liars and violent extremists just might save the country.
Here is the original post:
Twitter and Facebook Just Proved That Deplatforming Works - The Nation
- Senate Passes TikTok Ban Bill, Setting Up Legal Battle Between App and U.S. on First Amendment Issues - Variety - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- How the TikTok ban could survive a court challenge - Platformer - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Senate Passes TikTok Ban Bill, Setting Up Legal Battle Between App and U.S. on First Amendment Issues - AOL - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Eighth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity to Mayor and Police Chief of Missouri City in First Amendment ... - Law.com - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Get the Facts: How far does the First Amendment go? - WMTW Portland - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Say 'Yes' to the First Amendment Minding The Campus - Minding The Campus - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Civics lesson: First Amendment rights are broad, but there are limits - Tennessean - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- SCOTUS won't review decision that ratchets up legal risk at protests - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- NPR Against the First Amendment - The New York Sun - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- NPR boss once called the First Amendment a 'challenge' and 'reverence for the truth' a distraction - Fox News - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Here are the winners of the inaugural Poynter Journalism Prizes - Poynter - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Can Congress actually ban TikTok? - Vox.com - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- New Stablecoin Bill Faces Criticism for Stifling Innovation and Breaching First Amendment Regulation Bitcoin News - Bitcoin.com News - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Elon Musk's Plan To Fund National Signature Campaign In Support Of First Amendment Met With Praise - Yahoo! Voices - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Trump: First Amendment protects efforts to overturn election - USA TODAY - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- To Fight Ban Bill, TikTok's Best Hopes Lie in First Amendment Challenge - The Information - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Supreme Court must rely on the First Amendment, not its own precedent, when deciding government censorship case - Washington Examiner - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- FIRST AMENDMENT VIOLATION?: Man removed from Cape council meeting files lawsuit - FOX 4 News Fort Myers WFTX - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump team's First Amendment argument is 'so weak' in Georgia election interference case - MSNBC - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case - The Associated Press - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- A national TikTok ban and the First Amendment - National Constitution Center - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump attorney says Georgia election case hinges on First Amendment Deseret News - Deseret News - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case - The Atlanta Journal Constitution - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Courts Should Affirm First Amendment Rights of Youths in the Digital Age: The Case for a 21stCentury Tinker - Cato Institute - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump legal news brief: Prosecutors tell Judge McAfee that First Amendment doesn't apply to Trump's 'criminal intentions' - Yahoo! Voices - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump attorney tries to have Georgia case dismissed on First Amendment grounds - MSNBC - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump attorney, prosecutors spar over move to have Georgia case dismissed on First Amendment grounds - 11Alive.com WXIA - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Georgia court motions hearing today live stream - 11Alive.com WXIA - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case - Bowling Green Daily News - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- First Amendment protects Trump from Fani Williss election interference charges, attorney argues - Washington Examiner - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Judicial Rulemaking and Lucidity: Justice Barrett's First Amendment Opinion in Lindke v. Freed - American Enterprise Institute - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- First Amendment protects Trump from Fani Willis's election interference charges, attorney argues - Colorado Springs Gazette - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting election interference charges - Southernminn.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case - messenger-inquirer - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Lawyers for the State argue against Trump First Amendment challenge in Georgia case - 11Alive.com WXIA - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- OPINION: The possible TikTok ban is an infringement on our First Amendment rights - The Suffolk Journal - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump's team cites First Amendment in contesting charges in Georgia election interference case - Times Daily - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- An iPhone, YouTube & the First Amendment: Man in St Louis tests boundaries of constitution through videos - First Alert 4 - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Lawyer argues Georgia election RICO case against Trump be dismissed over First Amendment - 11Alive.com WXIA - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Abridging, Not Coercing, Is The First Amendment's Yardstick for Speech Violations - Reason - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Judge hears Trump's First Amendment challenge to Georgia charges: Watch live - Yahoo Singapore News - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Trump's attorney says election inference case should be thrown out over 1st Amendment protections - Yahoo! Voices - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Judge hears Trump's First Amendment challenge to Georgia charges: Watch live - AOL - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Judge sets new hearing date in 2020 Georgia election interference case - 11Alive.com WXIA - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Biden Wants To Avoid a First Amendment Showdown Over WikiLeaks - Reason - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raises eyebrows with comment that First Amendment 'hamstrings' government - Fox News - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- West Texas drag show becomes a First Amendment battleground - The Texas Tribune - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Requiring ugly images of smoking's harm on cigarettes won't breach First Amendment, court says - The Associated Press - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- The First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, and Substantial Encouragement - Reason - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- News/Media Alliance Joins Brief Defending First Amendment Editorial Rights of Documentarians - News/Media Alliance - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- The State of the First Amendment: Free Speech - University of Colorado Boulder - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Justices Seem Likely to Side With N.R.A. in First Amendment Dispute - The New York Times - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh loses patience with the judiciarys far right - Vox.com - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Justice Jackson ripped for worrying about the First Amendment 'hamstringing' government: 'Literally the point' - Fox News - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Analysis: SCOTUS Oral Arguments Bode Well For NRA First Amendment Claim [Member Exclusive] - The Reload - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Supreme Court to hear First Amendment challenge to New York's financial 'blacklisting' of NRA - Fox News - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- NRA Goes To The Supreme Court Today In First Amendment CaseHere's What To Know - Forbes - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Supreme Court to hear case of former Castle Hills councilwoman who claims First Amendment rights were violated - KSAT San Antonio - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Supreme Court to hear arguments in key First Amendment case challenging Biden admin teamwork with Big Tech - Fox News - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- "Black Lives Mat[t]er" + "Any Life" Drawing "Not Protected by the First Amendment" in First Grade - Reason - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Requiring ugly images of smoking's harm on cigarettes won't breach First Amendment, court says - KXLY Spokane - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Supreme Court hears free speech case that united the NRA and the ACLU - The Washington Post - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Supreme Court Wary of States' Bid to Limit Federal Contact With Social Media Companies - The New York Times - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Opinion: A First Amendment Fizzle at the U.S. Supreme Court - The Atlanta Journal Constitution - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- The First Amendment is under attack in Americas Oceania - Washington Examiner - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Education Institutions Grapple With Overlap of First Amendment and Anti-Discrimination Laws - JD Supra - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Requiring ugly images of smoking's harm on cigarettes won't breach First Amendment, court says - The Caledonian-Record - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Note to Justice Jackson: First Amendment Should Hamstring Biden - Daily Signal - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Requiring ugly images of smoking's harm on cigarettes won't breach First Amendment, court says - KEYT - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- The First Amendment Supreme Court case right wingers are crazy for - The Independent - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Ketanji Brown Jackson concerned First Amendment is hamstringing government from censorship - Washington Examiner - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Justice Jackson: First Amendment "Hamstringing" Federal Response To "Threatening Circumstances, From The ... - RealClearPolitics - March 22nd, 2024 [March 22nd, 2024]
- Opinion: Sen. Chuck Grassley should stand up for the First Amendment and support the PRESS Act - The Gazette - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- The Supreme Court must protect the First Amendment in Murthy v. Missouri - Washington Examiner - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- A Hillsborough judge invokes the First Amendment in a case related to a 2022 election campaign - WMNF - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- John Stockton's lawyer claims first amendment violation as basis for COVID-19 lawsuit - KXLY Spokane - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- Scientology Scores A First Amendment Win Over Leah Remini, But Harassment Claims Against Church Still Stand, Judge Rules - Deadline - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- Supreme Court to hear First Amendment cases, weigh in on Texas immigration law - MSN - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- 7 Expert Takeaways As the Supreme Court Considers Government Influence on Content Moderation - Just Security - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- Conflict between First Amendment and discrimination on Broadway | Strictly Legal - The Cincinnati Enquirer - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]