January 6th was one of the absolute saddest moments in my life as an American citizen. We saw the ugly side of the digital world spill out into the physical world. This is not the first time we have seen the digital world stir up emotions and the emotions create chaos in the physical world. However, most of us are not fully aware of just how fast the digital world is becoming the "real" world. If the digital world continues to become the way that people live, should we be allowed to completely take someones digital life away?
In the days following January 6th, the top social media companies moved quickly to suspend President Trumps accounts. This would eventually move from being temporary to permanent. Without much contemplation of the meaning of this action in the media, we collectively showed just how juvenile our understanding of where technology is headed. While I will admit that I live a privileged life, I came from more humble beginnings. (#Startedfromthebottomnowwehere) I've made a career in the technology space, and I would love to lay out a few points that show a trend.
Did you know that the government will provide you with a cell phone if you don't have the means? Why in the world would the government be providing phones to people? Simple answer; legislators felt that in the modern era it would be impossible for people without means to obtain and maintain employment without having a cell phone. Likewise, how would you call 911 in an emergency? The reasoning even extended to an ability to stay in touch with your family. All of this can be assumed to come from good intentions, but more importantly than intentions is the reality that life gets a lot harder to live without the ability to communicate.
How do you educate your kids during COVID-19 if they are learning virtually and you don't have internet access? The answer is obvious. Your kids do not get to go to school. The sad truth is that kids with available internet access and smart devices during non-school hours have a clear advantage over kids without. These kids have the ability to extend their learning and engage their curiosity online far more than kids who don't have this available. You can imagine a day when the government starts providing internet and tablets for families without the means like with phones. Given my own experience with using these technologies to obtain jobs using indeed.com, monster.com, and others, it seems the government should probably already be providing this as a service to those who do not have the means. In the case of child education, we are at least seeing private companies step up and provide free internet to these families.
As we move more of the "lived experience" online, this experience will likely be dominated by social networks. These networks have already taken over as one of the main way families stay in touch. While many may find that FaceBook, Twitter, SnapChat, and Instagram dominate the social media landscape, there is no denying the power of LinkedIn. LinkedIn has directly contributed to members of my family obtaining jobs. I see no reason that social media companies such as FaceBook and Twitter, who many businesses use to promote themselves, wouldn't become a part of a companies hiring process. In fact, we have seen the not so pretty side of people not getting jobs due to their FaceBook posts or tags. (#Youremployercanseeyourfacebookpics)
While I am no Nostradamus, I see evermore reliance on the digital world. It is a reality that social networks produce natural monopolies. There is a reason I love investing in these companies. The larger the network gets, the harder it is to disconnect from it. The general trend is that our future will be more of us living online on one of a handful of mega giant social networks akin to banks that are too big to fail. So what happens when all of these social networks agree to permanently ban you? Is this not essentially ending your "digital" life as we know it? Could it be considered a form of "digital" murder?
The reality is that our law makers and regulators are always way behind technology. For those that missed it, the CEO of FaceBook had to take a trip to congress in 2018 to answer for his companies behavior. What became utterly clear to all who are technology savvy is that our congressional representatives had no idea how FaceBook worked. It was an absolute national embarrassment. The lack of proper understanding of the business model of these social media companies made it clear that our legislators are not competent enough to produce effective regulation of the technology industry. As such, technology will hold sway over our society until regulators manage to catch up.
Now I know there are many who view Trump's actions as needing to be stopped. And social media companies are absolutely not government entities. I would imagine that the founders of our country could not have imagined us living and expressing ourselves online using only a handful of private sector platforms. However, a temporary suspension of Trumps account would seem to suffice. I'm not a lawyer, but I have heard Legal Eagles arguments that Trump's actions would not likely holdup in court as incitement of violence. Even if they had, what is the punishment in the physical world for such behavior? I can't imagine it being indefinite solitary confinement or even execution. And frankly, far be it from me to break into a long legal and moral discussion about whether states should be allowed to place people into solitary confinement or execute them. But the point still remains that we as a society have not fully reconciled the application of the Bill of Rights in a digital world dominated by private companies acting as regulating body as opposed to an elected government. Permanently banning Trump from social media platforms may not be the correct decision, and regulators won't likely show up anytime soon to rule on the matter.
While I can't predict the day when our society recognizes that "our lives as we know it" are online and to completely take that away in every meaningful sense is akin to murdering someone. I believe it is clear to see that day has not come. In such a digitally sophisticated future society, the digital citizens may look back at the banning of Trump from the top social media platforms as akin to Digital Assassination.
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