Shutting down a newspaper used to be such a bother. When Adolf Hitler finally brought the hammer down on his enemies at the Munich Post, storm troopers had to physically ransack its office, destroy its equipment, and burn its copy. That’s a lot of time and manpower to devote in the middle of dismantling democracy.

How much easier it would’ve been if, instead, he could’ve ordered social media platforms to lock the newspaper’s accounts, ban sharing of their articles, and prevent anyone with an internet connection from even accessing their site in the first place. He probably could’ve accused them of spreading fake news. Clean and clutter-free: a Reichstag fire for the digital age.

This has always been the fear with the spreading tentacles of tech companies, especially as these aspiring monopolies have become fundamental to our ability to entertain ourselves, maintain relationships, and publish news. The internet, and all the technology that’s come with it, has made our lives faster and simpler, boiling once painstaking work down to a matter of clicking, swiping, and typing. But it’s done the same for every aspiring tyrant, too.