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from the twitter-and-facebook-and-twitch-and-snapchat-and... dept.
Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account:
US President Donald Trump has been permanently suspended from Twitter "due to the risk of further incitement of violence", the company says.
Twitter said the decision was made "after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them".
Mr Trump had earlier been locked out of his account for 12 hours.
Twitter then said that it would ban Mr Trump "permanently" if he breached the platform's rules again.
Reacting to the permanent ban, Trump 2020 campaign adviser Jason Miller tweeted: "Disgusting... if you don't think they're coming for you next, you're wrong."
It comes after Mr Trump tweeted several messages on Wednesday, calling the people who stormed the US Capitol "patriots".
Hundreds of his supporters entered the Capitol building as the US Congress attempted to certify Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. The ensuing violence led to the deaths of four civilians and a police officer.
The siege took place just hours after Trump addressed supporters and told them: "We will never give up; we will never concede."
[...] On Thursday, Facebook said it had suspended Mr Trump "indefinitely". The popular gaming platform Twitch also placed an indefinite ban on the outgoing president's channel, which he has used for rally broadcasts. So has Snapchat.
Two online Trump memorabilia stores were closed this week by e-commerce company Shopify. On Friday, Reddit banned its "donaldtrump" forum for the president's supporters.
[...] The big question now is, can Trumpism survive without the backing of mainstream media? Or will it simply slip into the shadows of the internet?
(Emphasis retained from original.)
Also at Ars Technica, CNET
Full Twitter explanation at: blog.twitter.com
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 10 2021, @02:22PM (3 children)
Except if you look around you'll find most Trump supporters defending the insurrectionists and continuing the claims of a stolen election.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 10 2021, @07:54PM (2 children)
I base my assumptions on the ideas in this article, because they seem reasonable: https://www.wired.com/story/qanon-supporters-arent-quite-who-you-think-they-are/ [wired.com]
Yes, you have a lot of people who say they believe in Qanon, a deep state, or that the election was stolen. In summary, only a very small portion of people believe the most extreme elements of these conspiracy theories. I suspect the same applies to some of the other conspiracies, too.
If the more moderate right strongly rejected these ideas, they would lose support right away. This hinges on moderate Republicans to do the right thing. So far, they haven't done so. Yes, there are very real concerns about the power that a few technology companies have to silence speech. Marco Rubio was on Fox News talking about that this morning. He could have said that the concentration of power is alarming and this could be a slippery slope. Instead, he said the left is taking this opportunity to destroy the right. He went for more us versus them fear mongering. This is a moderate Republican, and that allegation about the left trying to destroy the right was the headline when Fox posted the interview on YouTube.
I believe it's relatively easy to pull most Trump supporters away from backing the most extreme ideas. The problem is the number of hardcore Trump supporters, the true believers in the conspiracies, has grown and continues to do so. It only takes a very small fraction of these people to be incredibly dangerous. As long as they have the support of many moderates on their side, it's easy for them to amass mobs like they did on Wednesday.
I'm convinced that the best way to shut down the far right is to show they've built their ideology on lies. They believe that Trump is working to bring down a cabal of satanic pedophiles that is running Congress and the largest and most influential corporations in the world. We need to be making the case loudly, clearly, and transparently that this conspiracy is a lie. We need to convince as many people as possible on the far right that the foundation of their beliefs is a lie, then let the right collapse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 11 2021, @12:30AM
To my mind, it doesn't look like they care much, one way or the other, about truth or lies. Given that, I think your suggestion of showing them that their ideology is built on lies will be futile. Put another way, I don't think you c an argue or debate someone out of a position that they did not enter into rationally. Just my $0.02 worth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 11 2021, @02:38AM
This sums up the problem the Right has with the Left. You think that compromise means do it your way. You have the delusion that you are the epitome of reason and light, that your values are the only rational ones so anyone who disagrees is crazy.
That gun control cake comic is funny, but the principle applies to every Left position. You attempt to 'Zeno's paradox' the policy all the way to your side. You wonder why the Right won't compromise with you any more, it's because a deal is never settled. The agreed position is just the new starting point for a new 'compromise' towards the Left.