Republican digital agents are worrying about themselves and their customers after major technology companies attacked prominent conservative websites and organizations.
Why does it matter: Amazon’s decision to remove the popular conservative social networking site Parler from its hosting services, as well as the suspensions on Twitter of President Trump and his tens of thousands of supporters, have segments of online law, fearing they will be “distorted” themselves.
What’s new: A handful of conservative digital professionals have practically gathered this week on an email list they share. The tone was discouraging as they tried, in a series of emails sent to Axios, to figure out how to stay on the right side of technology industry standards.
Between the lines: The crackdown has focused mainly on platforms where conspiracy theories have proliferated since the loss of Trump’s election and, in some cases, where violence in the Capitol was promoted, encouraged and celebrated last week.
- But the digital strategies on that email list were convinced that they might soon find themselves scattered in a seemingly imminent wave of online censorship.
- He considers them arbitrary and politically motivated.
- “What is the threshold to know if it is possible for a project to be started and closed?” Colorado GOP strategist Allen Fuller asked. “Obviously, the promotion of insurrection and violence is pretty clear … but the line there is not.”
- “It just comes down to where the left wants to draw the line and they have no idea right now where that line is and they don’t seem to care,” wrote Thomas Peters, founder and CEO of peer-to-peer text messaging. -peer software company RumbleUp.
News management: Trump’s permanent suspension from Twitter on Friday was seismic. But he was far from the only platform that exiled him.
- His supporters gathered at rival social platforms that deal with his political brand. The most popular of them, Parler, was suspended by Amazon’s AWS cloud service and is now suing.
- GoDaddy launched its most popular firearms forum, AR15.com, on Tuesday. The company told Axios that it found content on the site “that promotes and encourages violence.”
For some conservatives, the answer is to remain as self-sufficient as possible technologically.
- Tom Elliott, a former radio producer who founded Grabien’s television and video clip service, said his decision to build his own digital infrastructure behind the company is paying off.
- “We have particularly avoided outsourcing functionality to external technology providers who have expressed a desire to be used on behalf of ‘social justice’ combat sessions,” Elliott said in an email to Axios.
Editor’s note: This part was updated with information from the email list after it was accidentally cut during the editing process.