The Relationship Between eCommerce, Technology, and Politics

In January 2021 we had an unusual confluence of events in eCommerce - what is its influence on politics? What is the proper role and what should it be? How about the reverse question?

This past week we have witnessed unprecedented events in the US. At least 3 different companies have restricted the activities of parties related directly to the US government or its political parties - Shopify, PayPal, and Stripe. Still others (Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple) restricted messages and platforms.

Do the actions represent just the prevailing societal norms (which are often more important than specific laws) or do these actions represent the continuation of some kind of activism that requires broader legislation, and even international cooperation, on speech, messaging, and payments?

I remember back in eBay's early history they had to make such decisions as to - should hate and/or murder-related items be sold on their site (think: historical Nazi paraphernalia). As a pioneer in eCommerce, they had to make these types of tough judgment calls early - rather than taking nuanced stances, identifying something as "murderabilia". Todd Lutwak is definitely at the forefront of this. You might not see the connection here, but this goes back a long way.