Intelligence Squared

Shortly after a pro Trump mob stormed the Capitol on January 6th - Big Tech unplugged the President. For years he’d used social media to communicate directly with his supporters. Even on the day, as lawmakers in the Capitol scurried to find places of safety during the siege, Trump posted: ‘STOP THE STEAL’, and proclaimed ‘You will never take back our country with weakness.’ Then, came the crack down. Reddit removed the “DonaldTrump subreddit”. YouTube tightened its policy on posting videos, that called the outcome of the election into doubt. TikTok took down posts with hashtags like #stormthecapitol. Facebook suspended Trump’s account indefinitely, and Twitter, the former President’s favoured form of communication, took his account away permanently. So did Big Tech make the right decision? And was this censorship or accountability? Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, James Bosworth, Nadine Strossen and Freddie Sayers debate.  The event was chaired by Manveen Rana host the of Stories of Our Times podcast which you