Comment on "Deplatforming Works"

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/twitter-facebook-free-speech/

I am glad to read this, and certainly agree with the banning of Trump, and that it was overdue.  Trump was given leeway far longer than anyone else, yet as President he should have been held to a higher standard if he didn't impose one on himself.

But is it actually proven that it was the banning of 2000 accounts related to QAnon caused the peaceful outcome of January 20?  And what was the standard used?  Are we going to be banning all "conspiracy theories."  Many stories once called conspiracy theories, such as Kissinger meddling in the 1968 Vietnam peace talks, and the forestalling of the release of US hostages in Iran in 1979-80, and of course the utter falsity of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" claims regarding Iraq.

On the other hand, we had 4 years of conspiracy theories that virtually everything in US including elections were being manipulated by Russia, published by mainstream media outlets.  Much of this was thoroughly debunked, but often by the very left and antiwar commentators who were being banned.

All along, Twitter and Facebook have been banning left and anti-war political points of view, to my knowledge without any regards to a imminent threat of violence, possibly even the reverse.

Just recently, the Assembly of Venezuela has been banned by Twitter, not long after the EU finally recognized the actual government of Venezuela, and not the US propped up coupster Juan Guaido.

There need to be transparent and publically accessible standards consistent with First Ammendment rights.  Though I also believe it may be essential to ensure people hear more than one side of an important story, on both broadcast and social media.