Some quick thoughts about the social media companies suspending Trump’s accounts. /1 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/technology/trump-social-media.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

The platforms should have a heavy bias in favor of leaving political leaders' speech up. Not because platforms owe this to political leaders, but because they owe it to the public. /2

Knowing what political leaders are saying is crucial to the public’s ability to hold those leaders accountable for their decisions. /3

But there are limits to this principle. A political leader who uses his account to incite imminent violence is causing harms that can’t be countered by speech and can’t be undone by a future election. /4

When the platforms reasonably conclude that a political leader is engaged in this kind of activity, they’re justified in taking his posts down—and in suspending his account, at least if he persists. /5

To take an account down in these circumstances is not an affront to free speech, as some have suggested. To the contrary, it’s the responsible exercise of a First Amendment right. /6

So I disagree with the people saying the platforms should have taken Trump’s accounts down a long time ago. And I also disagree with the people saying the platforms shouldn’t be suspending the accounts now. /7