The Great Purge | The Spectator Australia

Beneath the noise of America’s Capitol Hill protests lurks the silent rise of Silicon Valley. 

Tens of thousands of social media users have vanished from the online discussion – snuffed out in the last twenty-four hours without acknowledgement by the platforms involved. It is the erasure of political opposition to create the illusion of consensus. What was once a playground of ideas has become a digital ‘yes-man’ for those with delusions of power. 

Purging is customary at the beginning of a cultural revolution. When emotionally insecure political movements take power, their first course of action is to expunge criticism. Historically, this was achieved through murder and expulsion of populations from a region. In…