Stripe, Shopify Join Social Platforms in Moderating Content

Following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. But he was also impeached by corporate America. All of a sudden, social media companies cut ties with Trump en masse, despite years of him violating platform rules. “Does it have to be a violent insurrection at the Capitol?" Shannon McGregor, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina who researches social media platforms, commented on the tipping point in an interview with Adweek. Often, McGregor noted, social platforms give politicians more leeway than regular users under the guise of "newsworthiness." The extent to which companies should moderate content has been a messy debate, testing the parameters of free speech on private platforms and culminating with Trump's removal. And while platforms are within their legal right to moderate content, McGregor's concern is that these companies are reactive and inconsistent in how they enforce their rules. The ordeal in January was not limited to social media companies, either. It was also a turning point in which major corporations that don’t typically make decisions that impact speech—Shopify, Stripe and Amazon Web Services—also did so. These days, every company is acting as a content moderator, a role they may not be ready or equipped for. These corporate decisions to detach from Trump were a long time coming, said Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of social impact consultancy McPherson Strategies. Trump’s de-platforming is one of the “latest tools,” McPherson said. “I do see this as coming out of the last six or seven years with companies and CEOs becoming much less fearful of stepping into this political-social arena and taking on controversial issues,” even if that negatively affects some consumers' loyalty to brands. As we saw from Facebook's advertiser boycott in the summer, brands are getting more comfortable withholding ad dollars from platforms they deem to be supporting hate speech. This phenomenon can be partly chalked up to a growing consensus that businesses should be socially aware, responsible actors. An annual survey from public relations firm Edelman found that 86% of respondents expect CEOs to "publicly speak out" on issues, while 68% felt CEOs should step in when the government doesn't. But, in practice, companies often follow one another in a cascading pattern, as was the case with the Facebook boycott and Trump's de-platforming. Thoughtful Activism or Political Convenience? It's far easier to reprimand an outgoing president than one who will stick around for four more years. Dozens of corporations—including Amazon, Intel and Dow Chemical—vowed to cease political contributions to the members of Congress who voted against certifying the election results. Others cut political contributions across the board until further notice. McPherson said companies want to be “middle of the road,” but it’s hard to strike that balance as Washington becomes more polarized. “Once a politician has gone so far as to support an insurrection, I definitely see those ties being cut.” It's unclear how companies will moderate political content in the Biden era with Trump no longer publicly pushing their limits. Parler, the far-right social media platform, was dropped by Amazon Web Services, its web host, and was delisted from both Apple's and Google’s app stores for failing to adequately moderate content, according to Amazon, Apple and Google. Apple said it has “always supported diverse viewpoints,” but Parler had not done enough to curb “threats of violence and illegal activity." Amazon told Parler that hosting such content “poses a very real risk to public safety.” Corynne McSherry, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a prominent digital rights group, is concerned that the new wave of companies making important decisions about online speech are those that control the infrastructure of the internet. Social media companies can use a “scalpel” in their content moderation, McSherry said, removing rule-breaking content or accounts. But the further you move down the “tech stack” toward web hosts or app marketplaces, those companies can only use “hammers,” cutting off entire websites. “A lot of these companies are infrastructure—they’re providing the basic infrastructure for speech. You don’t expect the telephone company to make decisions about who you can call,” she said, noting that the same logic should apply to financial services entities like Stripe and Shopify. Neither Stripe nor Shopify responded to questions about whether they plan to continue making judgments on what constitutes acceptable speech online. “If they get into the content moderation game, they will inevitably make all the same mistakes as the social media companies,” McSherry said, noting she feels these companies should be content neutral. "I think that is the better approach for speech and the better approach for these companies. Once you get dragged down that path, you’re going to get dragged further and further down it.”

Platforms

Financial Services Companies Join Social Platforms in Moderating Content

Decisions around online speech are often inconsistent and nebulous

Scott Nover

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