Censorship or Conscience

By: Katie Harbaugh 

After the Capitol riots on Wednesday, a lot of people were struggling with how to battle such anti-democratic mindsets. Once the public pointed out that Donald Trump’s tweet prompted the violence at the Capitol, he was quickly banned from Twitter. Not long after that, other companies followed suit, including Google, Facebook, Youtube, Amazon, and more. Most people agreed that since these are all private companies, they are fully within their rights to ban those who have supported and invoked harm/terrorism. However, some others (mainly Trump supporters) are angered by these bans because they see it as a violation of the freedom of speech established by the First Amendment. 

First, let’s discuss the more popular opinion. Donald Trump knowingly incited violence against a government building, resulting in not only an interruption of the democratic process of election certification, but also many injuries and several deaths. All of the above companies have established terms of service, and when they sense that someone is using their platforms to promote harm, they maintain that they are fully within their rights to revoke user privileges. Aside from this, most of these platforms are privately owned and funded, meaning that they have more control over the decisions they make in regards to who gets to be on their apps. 

Now we have to look at this from the more concerned perspective: people see these bans as an attack on freedom of speech. Some people have even gone as far as to call it censorship. While I disagree with these accusations, I have no problem discussing their merit alongside their inconsistencies. People are rarely banned from these apps, because social media platforms have capitalized on the motto that (mostly) everyone can use them to talk about whatever they please. Think about it, for every hardcore republican you see on Instagram, there’s a hardcore democrat just around the corner. Social media is made possible by the coexistence of people from every imaginable background. So, I understand why some people are angry when one of their own has their internet privileges revoked. Personally, I just want to end on this: for the most part, social media platforms do an incredible job of staying unbiased and allowing everyone to share their own opinions. However, when those opinions turn into dangerous actions that compromise our country’s democracy, Twitter can ban whover they want.