Debate: Was Big Tech Right to Ban Trump?
Debates
•
1h 1m
On January 6 2020 Big Tech unplugged President Donald Trump. For years he had used social media to communicate with his supporters.
Liberal commentators in the US argued that deplatforming Trump was the right decision — in spite of their concerns about the power of Big Tech. Tech companies, they said, are private entities that, like all traditional publishers, choose what to publish and what to avoid. Deplatforming Trump was accountability, they argued, not censorship.
But many saw this as a chilling move. “We couldn’t beat you in the war of ideas and discourse, so we’re pulling your mic” — that’s how Archon Fung, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government put it. Deplatforming Trump, critics said, showed the world that unelected Silicon Valley elites have the power to silence those they deem unpalatable. If you don’t like Trump then by all means challenge his rhetoric with open debate — but don’t support tech companies that censor politicians their CEOs don’t happen to like.
Up Next in Debates
-
Cancel Culture Debate with Ayaan Hirs...
Join our first YouTube livestream debate on Cancel Culture on 22nd Sept at 6pm BST/ 1pm ET.
Ask your questions live and take part during the event by voting on the motion, ‘Cancel Culture is Threatening our Freedoms’.Cast your FIRST VOTE here:
https://forms.gle/pMiaLQwKie9wGUM18Cast your FIN...
-
Debate: Prosecute Trump, with Rich Lo...
Should Donald Trump be prosecuted by the DOJ for crimes against the United States? Last week the FBI searched former President Donald J. Trump's home Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida with a warrant stating that he was under investigation for potential breaches of the Espionage Act. The move deep...
-
Is London too rich to be interesting?
It used to be so easy. You left university, came to London and got yourself a flatshare in one of the cheaper areas: Notting Hill, Maida Vale or Highgate. Living was cheap and if it took you a while to find out what you really wanted to do with your life you could drift about a bit and get by. Ma...
