ultimately prove a bit ineffective *shrug* We'll see tho.

For one, the most insurgent members of his base already thrive in the underbelly of the internet. *Some* may maintain presence in these mainstream venues (i.e. fb, tw, ig), but the real bulk of their organizing, plotting, information sharing, indoctrinating and whatever else occurs in places like 8chan/8kun, telegram, gab, parler, spreely etc (eg. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2021/01/05/how-the-insurgent-and-maga-right-are-being-welded-together-on-the-streets-of-washington-d-c/)... that's where DTs like Dylan roof and the ChristChurch shooter in NZ posted their views, manifestos, etc before carrying out their attacks. That's where the Q posts started and Qanon emerged. And that's where a lot of chatter about Jan 6 was going down.

So I'm skeptical of whether "deplatforming" 45 in the mainstream sense would temper his influence with dangerous actors. I think it might just push it further underground, where the activity has already been thriving outside of regular folks' (and mainstream media's) purview.

Additionally, I think losing access to mainstream platforms simply presents an opportunity for him/that family to harness his current support (which is probably the highest it will ever be but tanking quickly) and create his *own* platform (probably subscription-based). I also think it's possible he might actually try to flee the US before his term ends, and thus wouldn't be surprised if he basically went full bin laden and started up some all-american hate domain while in exile where he can continue communicating with his base and extracting validation and money from them, in exchange for giving them the space to say and plan whatever the fuck they want. Regardless of whether he flees into exile or not, I'm thinking such a platform would pretty much *have* to be hosted internationally, in some jurisdiction that wouldn't care (and likely even encourages) destabilizing the US (eg. Russia), and I don't think people still riding with him at this point would gaf about having to download tor just to access such a community.

So ya. I agree it's kinda whatever, it's kinda late, and I also wonder whether "deplatforming" just accelerates that family's descent to the right wing dark web underworld they were barrelling towards anyway. Hope I'm wrong tho.


>orange has been banned from FB and IG. at least for the last
>few days of his term.
>
>does he even use those platforms? and why just now? will
>twitter follow suit. not that I disagree with the move, but
>this is long overdue. and too late.