I see it as a more general trend, not just speech, not just online, not just Americans. One of the catalysts for the online censorships though is people embracing the use of the 'report' button. It used to be the 'ignore' button and until a topic derailed into a shitstorm of enormous proportions with last line of ~~defense antibiotics~~ offense insults, the respective moderators often would not have cared. What did we get now? Instead of people using the 'ignore' buttons as they should for a personalized web experience, where **freedom is valued** and is the foundational philosophy, the new form of trolling has become to get social media's white knight moderators to ban the 'offenders'. And due to how 'no one should feel offended on our platform', they'll without hesitation press a punishment button. Because it's their job to do so, not because they're a caring moderator leading a smaller community