Absolutely yes. Morally, violent fascists have no place in society. This isn't a slippery slope. They're not coming for the Communists and Jews next. I have no

Absolutely yes. Morally, violent fascists have no place in society. This isn't a slippery slope. They're not coming for the Communists and Jews next. I have no sympathy for the poor, helpless Nazis being bullied by the big, bad liberals (as if the companies listed are even reliably liberal) when all they want to do is organize an overthrow or two of the US government. The big platforms have been obscenely deferent to the right wing for the past four years; ceasing to do business with them only after actual murder is about as limited a response as you can possibly imagine. But, you say, companies are supposed to be amoral profit-generating machines? Ok, in that case, let's consider the cost-benefit analysis. Reputation matters. Continuing to do business with violent fascists is bad for reputation. How much money were they bringing in? Probably not much - Parler would have had a hard time getting advertisers, and it's not a system that will work well on a donation/subscription model. Easy decision. Are we simply concerned in general that a few companies can "silence" certain kinds of speech? First, let's be very clear that if they're going to have that power at all, this is about the best and most restrained possible time for them to use it - relying on the rich and powerful to not abuse their power isn't a long-term strategy, but it's also not productive to whine when they use it in a way that benefits society. But also, it's not completely impossible for Parler to operate. They simply don't get to benefit from the infrastructure that those companies built. Should it be easier to be online and discoverable without those companies cooperating? Maybe, but I'm really hard pressed to imagine how decentralization, discoverability, and human laziness can all coexist. Keep in mind that part of what people like about app stores, for instance, is that they're curated. If Parler has to stay, is there anything beyond literal malware that you think could be removed? (Full disclosure, I worked for one of those companies until recently.)