Platform‑Bans as Partisan Levers

Governments will increasingly weaponize high‑salience AI harms (e.g., deepfakes on a hostile platform) as an expedient pretext to pressure or remove digital venues that amplify their political opponents. The tactic bundles legally framed content bans, threats to revoke platform market access, and moral‑outrage messaging to produce rapid regulatory leverage against adversarial online publics. — If normalized, this converts platform regulation into a partisan tool that reshapes free‑speech norms, undermines stable platform governance, and incentivizes governments to seek brittle, performative remedies rather than durable tech policy.