"Responsible censorship" is a good term, and I think it started in earnest after Trump won the 2016 election.
Right across the board, all kinds of institutions made the conscious decision that the basic principles of free speech, impartiality, and the "marketplace of ideas" came a distant second to ensuring that "the wrong people" (which I've worded vaguely as it may be different things to different people) do not come close to any of the levers of power again.
This is how we ended up with formerly-reputable news organisations pushing blatant agendas, the utter demonisation of people hesitant about the draconian COVID measures, and how every layer of internet stack infrastructure, from DDoS protection to the biggest tier-1 ISP, have started actively working to deplatform websites that host offensive but legal speech.
Right across the board, all kinds of institutions made the conscious decision that the basic principles of free speech, impartiality, and the "marketplace of ideas" came a distant second to ensuring that "the wrong people" (which I've worded vaguely as it may be different things to different people) do not come close to any of the levers of power again.
This is how we ended up with formerly-reputable news organisations pushing blatant agendas, the utter demonisation of people hesitant about the draconian COVID measures, and how every layer of internet stack infrastructure, from DDoS protection to the biggest tier-1 ISP, have started actively working to deplatform websites that host offensive but legal speech.