Internet gets into factionalism

Last week was eventful not just for American politics, but also the technology space.

After the storming of the Capitol, all technology giants huddled up within days to ban US president Donald Trump from their respective platforms. The step was a necessity given the events of January 6, but it did also alienate many conservatives from social media platforms.

The technology companies unfortunately have moved a step ahead since.

Last week, it was reported that Google and Apple removed radical conservative platform Parler from their respective app stores for showing violent content. Last Saturday, Amazon issued a warning to Parler to mend its ways or they would be forced to cancel its cloud and hosting services.

The steps seem justified given how events have unfolded over the last week. But, is alienating conservative elements from access to the internet the right approach?

While tech companies and social media platform have been threatening to remove radical conservative channels from their websites, there has also been a discussion amongst these groups to start their own internet. Parler was one such attempt.