> Taking Parler off the app stores seriously de-legitimizes their cause and their celebrity
Does it though? 21% of voters approved of storming of the Capitol. That's not something that can be cancelled by banning a single app. I can see these bans biting the liberals in the back the next time Republicans take control of the federal government.
"What I found is that approximately 18 percent of Americans are highly disposed to authoritarianism, according to their answers to four simple survey questions used by social scientists to estimate this disposition. A further 23 percent or so are just one step below them on the authoritarian scale. This roughly 40 percent of Americans tend to favor authority, obedience and uniformity over freedom, independence and diversity."
That also aligns with around 20% of voters supporting Nixon after Watergate. I think we should do our best to make sure that number stays at around 20% and does not grow; for if it does it imperils the whole democratic system of government that we take for granted.
If the general zetigeist does not make it obvious to you, please look to history for excellent examples of authoritarianism being orthogonal to left/right political bias.
Pretending that it's exclusive to the political right is not favorable to democracy.
I agree authoritarianism is dangerous. I also agree that authoritarian dystopias can be driven not just by governments, but also by powerful corporations. I don't really see too much of an important distinction between either. This banning is effectively authoritarianism - just not perpetrated by a government (directly - but possibly indirectly to appease the new administration/govt by a large corp). I think we should be just as concerned about this as if it were perpetrated by a govt.
Echo chambers breed extremism, and ones with a low barrier to entry and a smokescreen of "saner" content are much easier to bring in new users.
If it's difficult to use the thing and the content skews more and more extreme, existing users may continue to get more radicalized, but new users don't offset attrition rates and eventually it dies off.
Like with the Pirate Bay, the demand for Parler is already there. Outside of being declared illegal, Parler soon come back online or another app/website will take its place.
Does it though? 21% of voters approved of storming of the Capitol. That's not something that can be cancelled by banning a single app. I can see these bans biting the liberals in the back the next time Republicans take control of the federal government.
https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/20...