De-Platforming as a Practice

Is de-plat­form­ing a sound practice?

De-plat­form­ing is one of the most aggress­ive tools that an online mod­er­at­or can utilise. 

For those who value free­dom of speech, it seems sur­real that any mor­al being would try to sab­ot­age demo­crat­ic dis­cus­sions by mobil­ising author­it­ari­an lynch mobs.

But here we are.

Here we go:

De-Platforming as a Practice

Online lynch mobs some­times force online mod­er­at­ors to de-plat­form indi­vidu­als, part­ner organ­isa­tions, advert­isers, col­lab­or­at­ors, etc.

“Deplatforming, also known as no-plat­form­ing, has been defined as an ‘attempt to boy­cott a group or indi­vidu­al through remov­ing the plat­forms (such as speak­ing ven­ues or web­sites) used to share inform­a­tion or ideas, or ‘the action or prac­tice of pre­vent­ing someone hold­ing views regarded as unac­cept­able or offens­ive from con­trib­ut­ing to a for­um or debate, espe­cially by block­ing them on a par­tic­u­lar web­site’.”
Source: Wikipedia ¹Deplatforming. (2023, January 8). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​D​e​p​l​a​t​f​o​r​m​ing

Is de-plat­form­ing a sound practice?

The short answer is no.

From the aggressor’s per­spect­ive, you should nev­er adhere to anti-demo­crat­ic and author­it­ari­an meth­ods of silen­cing your enemies.

From the mod­er­at­or’s per­spect­ive, you should always adhere to your pub­licly avail­able policies and nev­er make excep­tions based on peer pres­sure from online lynch mobs.

From the defend­ant’s per­spect­ive, you should nev­er take your freedoms for gran­ted and enjoy your rights humbly and responsibly. 

Learn more: De-Platforming as a Practice

Cancel Culture is Evil

What is can­cel culture?

Cancel cul­ture = the weapon­isa­tion of social out­rage to silence, pun­ish, and exile indi­vidu­als or ideas rather than enga­ging with them in ration­al debate. 

Cancel cul­ture thrives on pub­lic sham­ing, digit­al mob justice, and elim­in­at­ing nuance, redu­cing com­plex human beings to single state­ments or actions — often taken out of con­text or judged ret­ro­act­ively by evolving mor­al standards. 

“Cancel cul­ture or call-out cul­ture is a phrase con­tem­por­ary to the late 2010s and early 2020s used to refer to a form of ostra­cism in which someone is thrust out of social or pro­fes­sion­al circles — wheth­er it be online, on social media, or in per­son. Those sub­ject to this ostra­cism are said to have been ‘can­celled’.”
Source: Wikipedia ²Cancel cul­ture. (2023, January 4). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​C​a​n​c​e​l​_​c​u​l​t​ure

Conformity, Oppression, and Stagnation

Unlike tra­di­tion­al account­ab­il­ity, which allows for dis­cus­sion, learn­ing, and pro­por­tion­al con­sequences, can­cel cul­ture demands imme­di­ate and abso­lute destruction. 

Historically, soci­et­ies that have embraced ideo­lo­gic­al purges — wheth­er in the form of book burn­ings, black­lists, or polit­ic­al witch hunts — have not led to pro­gress but instead to oppres­sion and intel­lec­tu­al stag­na­tion. Cancel cul­ture, while often dis­guised as act­iv­ism, is fun­da­ment­ally a mod­ern form of author­it­ari­an con­trol, ensur­ing con­form­ity not through reas­on but through intimidation.

In its most extreme form, can­cel cul­ture leads to col­lect­ive amne­sia, eras­ing people, books, films, and even his­tor­ic­al fig­ures from pub­lic life, as if uncom­fort­able real­it­ies can be scrubbed from existence. 

What makes can­cel cul­ture par­tic­u­larly insi­di­ous is that it oper­ates out­side form­al insti­tu­tions, giv­ing unac­count­able digit­al mobs the power to act as judges, jur­ies, and executioners. 

The Terror of Being Next

“Cancel cul­ture on social media is a form of pub­lic sham­ing that aims to dif­fuse pub­lic dis­course and pro­mote tol­er­ance, but can also be viewed as a form of intol­er­ance against oppos­ing views.”
Source: Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities ³Velasco, J. (2020). You are Cancelled: Virtual Collective Consciousness and the Emergence of Cancel Culture as Ideological Purging. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 12. … Continue read­ing

Cancel cul­ture replaces con­ver­sa­tion with coer­cion, cre­at­ing a world where mor­al pur­ity is per­form­at­ive and intel­lec­tu­al explor­a­tion is replaced by ideo­lo­gic­al conformity. 

A soci­ety ruled by the fear of can­cel­la­tion is not a free soci­ety — it is a social pan­op­ticon in which people are not guided by mor­al con­vic­tion but by the ter­ror of being next.

It cre­ates an atmo­sphere of fear (i.e. the spir­al of silence), where people are afraid to express dis­sent­ing opin­ions, ask dif­fi­cult ques­tions, or chal­lenge pre­vail­ing dog­mas. This stifles cre­ativ­ity, intel­lec­tu­al diversity, and essen­tial human inter­ac­tion, as indi­vidu­als con­stantly self-cen­sor to avoid social annihilation. 

How To Navigate Cancel Culture

The cul­ture war with de-plat­form­ing, can­cel cul­ture, online lynch mobs, woke journ­al­ism, pop­u­lism, fake news, and mor­al slackt­iv­ism are fast becom­ing our biggest chal­lenges as PR professionals.

Here’s how to nav­ig­ate can­cel culture:

Learn more: Cancel Culture is Evil

The Spiral of Silence Theory

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann’s (1916 – 2010) well-doc­u­mented the­ory on the spir­al of silence (1974) explains why the fear of isol­a­tion due to peer exclu­sion will pres­sure pub­lics to silence their opinions.

The the­ory was developed in the late 1970s in West Germany, partly in response to Noelle-Neumann’s obser­va­tions of how pub­lic opin­ion seemed to shift dur­ing the Nazi régime and post-war Germany.

The spir­al of silence the­ory is based on the idea that people fear social isol­a­tion. This fear influ­ences their will­ing­ness to express their opin­ions, espe­cially if they believe these opin­ions are in the minority.

Rather than risk­ing social isol­a­tion, many choose silence over express­ing their opinions.

As the dom­in­ant coali­tion stands unop­posed, they push the con­fines of what’s accept­able down a nar­row­er and nar­row­er fun­nel, the so-called opin­ion cor­ridor). ⁴Opinion cor­ridor. (2023, April 8). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​O​p​i​n​i​o​n​_​c​o​r​r​i​dor

Noelle-Neumann emphas­ised the medi­a’s role in shap­ing pub­lic per­cep­tion of what opin­ions are dom­in­ant or pop­u­lar, thus influ­en­cing the spir­al of silence. 

Populism and Cancel Culture

The mech­an­isms behind Elisabeth Noelle Neumann’s spir­al of silence the­ory could fuel destruct­ive soci­et­al phe­nom­ena like pop­u­lism and can­cel culture:

In both cases, the spir­al of silence con­trib­utes to a polar­ised envir­on­ment. Views become dom­in­ant not neces­sar­ily because they are more pop­u­lar but because oppos­ing views are not expressed due to fear of social isol­a­tion or repercussions.

Learn more: The Spiral of Silence

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