“As a general rule, we don’t want to get in the way of open, public and democratic debate on Meta’s platforms – especially in the context of elections in democratic societies like the United States.” And with that, Meta announced that Donald Trump (whose public posts have only become more unhinged since he was banned from major social media sites) will be allowed back onto Facebook and Instagram. Whether or not you like this decision, it’s critical to acknowledge that it is entirely Meta’s choice. Unlike Trumpism supporters, let’s not pretend this move has anything to do with free speech. It’s a company deciding how it wants to enforce rules on its own platform.

+ So far, Charlie Warzel has the best take I’ve seen. Trump and Facebook’s Mutual Decay. “Each thrives by hijacking attention and monetizing outrage, and they’ve benefited each other: The Trump campaign spent millions of dollars on more than 289,000 Facebook ads over the span of just a few months in 2020, according to an analysis by The Markup. But lately, both appear to have lost the juice. Many people still support Trump, and many people still use Facebook products, but the shine is gone—and that matters.”

+ Beware of billionaire blowhards who pretend that social media is all about free speech. Twitter joined YouTube in caving to pressure to block links to a BBC documentary critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.