I have mixed feelings about President Trump and certain allies of his being kicked off social media as well as Google, Apple and Amazon seeing fit to deplatform Parler.
On the one hand, their response is not without justification given the fact Trump used social media to encourage violence before and during the attempted insurrection last week. Lives were lost. The line had finally been crossed.
Some such as Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris called for Trump to be kicked off Twitter during her presidential bid in October 2019.
Let's suppose that Twitter had seen fit to kick Trump off the Twitter prior to last week. Would this have stopped the violence? Or would it have been brought about sooner? What if he had been kicked off during the election campaign? Perhaps during the RNC or during the debates. Is it possible the violence might have taken place sooner such as an Election Day?
Banning Trump from Twitter might put him and his allies out of sight and out of mind. But it also might have made them even more dangerous.
Yet let us also keep in mind that not all Republicans have been kicked off Twitter. Newly elected Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is very much a presence on Twitter despite having tweeted, "Today is 1776," hours before some of her constituents stormed the Capitol later tweeting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's whereabouts during the attempted insurrection. So while Trump might be gone from Twitter there are others to pick up his mantel.
As usual there are no easy answers. There are only hard questions.
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