Big tech's anti-Trump activism to have limited impact

Significance

Facebook has indefinitely suspended Trump from its main platform and Instagram, while Twitter has done so permanently for his role in instigating violence at US Capitol Hill on January 6. These developments spotlight the role of social media firms in spreading and tackling hate speech and disinformation, and their power unilaterally to shut down public speech.

Impacts

• Democratic control of the White House and Congress offers social media companies a two-year window to ensure softer regulation.
• The EU will push its new digital markets legislation with vigour following the events at US Capitol Hill.
• Hard-right social media will find new firms willing to host their servers, partly because their user numbers run to millions not billions.