Just recently we have seen a rather unprecedented suspension of use by a number of public platforms for President Trump, now ex-President Trump.
- Youtube
- Snapchat
- Twitch
- Liquid Web
- Shopify
- stripe
- paypal
A lot of these were social media sites but this list also includes some payment services. It is possible that these were suspended to prevent any further encouragement of the rioters. An impartial view of the of the ex-President’s inability to tweet out his important thoughts might be a good preventative measure but is it censorship? Well, I guess using the textbook definition it is certainly censorship. Does this prevent him from communicating and reaching his political base?
Well, I suppose that is complicated. As the president of the United States, now former president, he commands the ability to simply hold a speech and the reporters from the various large news organizations come running. So it is definately possible for him to communicate with anyone willing to listen. It is my personal opinion that ex-president Trump liked to communicate via Twitter due to the control he was able to exert.
You do not have to like him, his style or his politics to see he knows how to resonate with a crowd. He is very good at controlling his image and Twitter was perfect. He could say what he wanted and he didn’t have to face down a room of reporters who might ask difficult questions. Worse still those reporters would then have either audio or video of any answers which can be used at any point to tarnish his image.
Beyond censorship
There are probably as many different opinions as people on should you be able to turn off the leader of a country’s microphone. Whether or not you agree this is an acceptable method you might wonder about some of the other different organizations who are now shunning ex-President Trump.
It is difficult to know when to cut bait in any situation. I think the most generous person in the world might be able to look at some of the things Trump had said in the media or on social media and suggest this was beyond poor taste. Yet, like anything in life, once you start to acquiesce in a situation you become more and more invested. The more invested the hard to stop any given activity.
The recent protest, riot or attempted coup probably seemed like a convenient spot for most organizations to terminate their relationship. Once a few organizations terminated their relationship it was easier for everyone else to jump on the anti-Trump train.
Much in the way that President Trump has been maintaining his image over the decades he is now victim of other organizations doing the exact same thing – maintaining their images. His polarizing ways and his alleged connection with the activities on January 6th are exactly the things that in my opinion would have gotten most other people banned from most social media platforms. It is actually just easier for most of these organizations to use the fine print in their contracts to get rid someone who could be a brand problem in the future.
Free Market
It was probably harsh realization to the ex-President but there is another example from the news that supports a companies free will decisions. That court case went all the way to the supreme court which agreed that the bakery was not required to make a wedding cake for same sex couple. Companies, just like people, don’t have to do business with people they if they don’t want to.
It is impossible to know the exact reasons why these companies have broken their ties but it is a free market decision.
You don’t have to like ex-President Trump to know that things will be much much harder for him. It is quite likely with all of these organizations abandoning ex-President Turmp he could see a negative financial impact on his fortune.
The only thing that seems somewhat obvious is that if the market knows that ex-President Trump is in a bad financial situation that some of the financial sharks will be circling and waiting for the best time to make a deal – which will probably be the worst time for ex-President Trump.
Free markets and free will are great when everything is going your way but nothing lasts forever.
