Anyone who thinks this is the functioning of a "normal" internet is mistaken. This is a symptom of a decades-in-the-making problem. It strongly appears those in charge of legislation are not technically minded and have no idea "how" the internet works. Or they do and they have data-sharing agreements with all the 'big tech' software and are okay to "appear" to legislate but cannot actually change anything substantial in fear of retaliation (losing access to all that juicy data they collect). Imagine the power Google wields in this scenario, to me they are more scary than any drug cartel boss. I genuinely can't see how this isn't akin to a Coup d'état of the internet as a means of transmitting information. We cannot shut down these tentacles because of how deeply ingrained they are (remember when FB's SDK was having issues? Hundreds of third parties apps just broke).<p>Google should have been regulated years ago, instead, they have been allowed to snap up every smaller company to solidify their position in the market and ensure <i>they</i> and <i>only they</i> are allowed positions of power, control and authority.<p>If Google dislikes you (or their baseless algorithms that are detached from reality) then you are <i>toast</i>. How long before Google's algorithm results in an actual human death? Doesn't seem totally far fetched and entirely plausible.<p>Yet, <i>you</i> let this happen, or rather, it seems this isn't concerning enough for it to warrant a massive protest, after all, Big Tech controls protest online and can just shut it down. Amazon seems to have been mightily effective at stopping any "union" movement, so we know the censor machines are fine tuned and ready to fire at any moment.<p>We need to be talking about this daily, in needs to be front and center for weeks and weeks, and we need to <i>demand</i> accountability. We are ruled and governed not by elected officials but by faceless, nameless and non-human machines. They do not Think. They do not Talk. They do not care.<p>Yet this thread will disappear in a few short hours, and this will be just another episode of the weekly "Google's systems are out of control and one developer got caught out, too bad I hope they are okay".<p>This is happening to thousands of others undoubtedly that do not make hackernews or have the resources/energy to fix it.<p>We should demand better.