The confused debate on “big tech” and free speech

Conservatives are working the refs, not offering solutions

(Photo by Hannah McKay-Pool/Getty Images)

Hey folks. I think if I were in a normal columnist job, I’d be expected to do impeachment takes this week where the goal would be not so much to persuade anyone of anything as simply to restate the views the audience already has, in a better-crafted way one hopes, so as to induce them to share the column on Facebook. Part of my goal here at Slow Boring is to not do that, to instead try to focus on content that’s distinctive. So that’s why I’m not doing a piece that’s all “Trump is bad there must be accountability blah blah blah Republicans blah blah our sacred democracy.”

Instead, I want to talk about the less important but more intellectually interesting subthread of how Trump is being treated by big technology companies.

Big tech and anti-anti-Trump politics

When Donald Trump does something outrageous, two things happen.

One is that people outraged by Trump’s conduct try to do something about it. The other is that elite conservatives are spli…