Mediaboss Marketing

Since ancient times, to be exiled has been considered as definitive as capital punishment. Under Roman law, in fact, voluntary exile was offered to a prisoner as an alternative to death; the word itself is derived from the Latin solum or soil, and to be exiled was to be taken away from ones soil or land. Srinivasa Ramanujan, the Indian mathematics genius, agonized over going to Cambridge since crossing the oceans would exile him from his community. Napoleon Bonaparte and Bahadur Shah Zafar both died in exile and ignominy, with the latter pleading for a measly six feet of his homeland for burial.

President Donald J. Trump would have perhaps realized the true meaning of the word in the dying days of his presidency, as he was subjected to the modern version of exilede-platforming. Trump might have lived in the White House, but he existed on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, his true homes. It was the systematic use of these platforms that made him president, and it was these platforms that sustained him. Twitter was his megaphone, the tweets he sent equalled to executive orders, and YouTube and Twitter were where his conspiracy groups flourished. In one fell swoop, all of them were taken away as Twitter banned him permanently and the others indefinitely. Since then, Trump seems to have gone silent. He has tried to send out a few missives in a traditional fashionspeeches, statements, videosbut they didnt get far.

This radical move by tech companiesto remove the president of their own country from their platformshas had an expectedly vociferous response. His critics applauded the move. But many of them have also been horrified. German chancellor Angela Merkel, various French ministers, and the Mexican President criticized the move. On Twitter, Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny wrote: This precedent will be exploited by the enemies of freedom of speech around the world. Every time when they need to silence someone, they will say: This is just common practice, even Trump got blocked on Twitter."

The ones that have been universally criticized for this action are the platforms themselvesnot as much for making the move, but either for doing it too late or only when it served their interests. As long as he was president, who not only held political power but was responsible for billions in advertising revenue, they pussyfooted around his offensive and inflammatory statements. Once he became a lame-duck president, they took him off, no doubt provoked by the storming of the Capitol by the frenzied mob he used their platforms to instigate.

The move is riddled with contradictions. The platform companys definition of the internet as open was good as long as it served them, but the moment they became profit machines, their incentives were aligned elsewhere, with users becoming the product. Their reputation for neutrality took a hit after they started the algorithmic manipulation of users to maximize engagement and profits, and stifle innovation. They extolled freedom of speech and the US First Amendment, projected themselves as pure platforms with no editorial control, and thus escaped responsibility. In de-platforming the president, they have clearly acted as publishers.

At the same time, these companies have the right to do what they did. They can do whatever they want," said Kara Swisher, a tech journalist. Theyre private businesses. Very similar to a restaurant where someone comes in and rants and starts to threaten violence and things like that... they get kicked out."

The real issue is not that these platforms are self-serving, but that they are monopolies. Bigger, and less noticed was the move by AWS, Shopify and Twilio to take out Parler, a Twitter alternative and a prominent gathering place of Trump supporters. If you are off AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, you cannot have a website; if Amazon and Shopify ban you, you cannot sell much; if Twitter, Facebook and YouTube de-platform you, you lose your voice.

Among the various firsts that he has racked up, Trump is the first president to be impeached twice. But as New York Times Kevin Roose writes, A successful impeachment [with a conviction] would be an embarrassing end to Mr. Trumps political career. But losing his huge online following would deprive him of cultural influence long into the future."

In this connected world, if your country deports you, there are many other places you could live and stay in touch with your friends, culture and ethos. If tech companies de-platform you, you might as well not exist, which is the true definition of exile.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters

* Enter a valid email

* Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Originally posted here:
Donald Trumps exile and the power of social media platforms - Mint