The State Department’s X Directive and the End of Platform Independence

Kate Klonick reflects on Secretary of State Marco Rubio's decision to issue a cable endorsing X as a tool of US diplomacy, suggesting in Lawfare that it represents a consequential shift away from platforms' general posture of resistance to government interference. Klonick has also discussed the decision with Tech Policy Press's Justin Hendrix. 

She notes: "Given the extent to which the Trump administration demonstrated a willingness to accommodate the tech sector—in regulatory forbearance, international advocacy, antitrust relief, and the engineered transfer of a major platform asset—it would have been surprising and uncharacteristic if the administration did not expect something in return."