I think you are heading in the right direction here. I think the difference is that today large US tech companies have a complete stranglehold over online speec

I think you are heading in the right direction here. I think the difference is that today large US tech companies have a complete stranglehold over online speech and large parts of the internet infrastructure(email, web services, consumer electronics). So instead of the CCP saying a site is transmitting harmful lies(and is shut down), its now a close knit group of tech oligarchies deeming what speech is and is not permissible. If Parler were to try and get a foreign data center expect Goog, FB and the others to try to bully that country (we will remove offices in your country if you do not shut it down) or pressuring internet providers to block that countries traffic.