Newsweek

Pulling the Plug

PRIVATE COMPANIES CAN CHOOSE WHAT TO OFFER THEIR CUSTOMERS

by Froma Harrop

SO, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP HAS been booted off Twitter, as of now forever. Facebook also gave him the heave-ho. Apple and Google, meanwhile, have tossed the riot-friendly Parler app out of their stores.

Parler became a social media cave for the Trump-inspired looters, vandals, cop killers and other social misfits who rampaged through the Capitol. But Amazon may have delivered the harshest blow by refusing to store Parler’s data in its cloud-computing service.

Having lost the presidency, the Senate majority and now major platforms for disseminating lies and calls to violence, Trump World, or what’s left of it, automatically shifted into self-pitying snowflake mode. With quivering voices, its members accused the tech companies of censorship.

When Simon & Schuster announced it would not be publishing the book by one of the instigators, Josh Hawley, the Missouri senator called the move “Orwellian” and a “direct assault

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Newsweek

Newsweek6 min read
Country Has Won Our Achy Breaky Hearts
COUNTRY MUSIC IS ENJOYING A HUGE RESUR-gence—and showing signs that it is becoming more inclusive. With both Beyoncé and Lana Del Rey having announced that they’re releasing country albums this year, and country songs regularly going viral on TikTok,
Newsweek2 min read
Ramy Youssef
DESCRIBING RAMY YOUSSEF’S WORK ISN’T EASY, BECAUSE HE REFUSES TO settle on just one thing. “I feel really inspired to connect in the way that it makes sense.” That started out with stand-up, but has since morphed into acting, writing, directing and p
Newsweek4 min read
Valerie Bauman
Q _ Were you ultimately successful in your quest to conceive? A _ I am currently pregnant, due in mid-May. I can’t wait to meet my son! Is there anything you would have done differently along the way? There is a donor I mention in the book who I wo

Related Books & Audiobooks