How The US Shuts Down Your Business

A local Canadian business has been in the news multiple times for having its US controlled social media accounts on platforms like X and Instagram banned, after making statements that have apparently offended the US government.  These are simply based on jokes about US policy on Canada, whether the threatened takeover of Canada or the Lake Ontario issue.  — https://globalnews.ca/news/12042513/vancouver-business-says-social-media-account-vanished-after-lake-ontario-joke/

I don’t blame those platforms, if the US State Department or any US agency orders them to shutdown an account they have to comply, that’s always been the case in the US.  Those platforms generally have you agree to not have any rights or privacy to continue posting on their services, all while they make money by mining and selling your data.

This is not new, it’s not about being angry with Donald Trump because the restrictive US laws on freedom and privacy have always been there, and so have the policies for US based hosting and social media.  In fact, it seems the world is only paying attention to longstanding US policies and actions because of their current President (who I may or may not love), but it would be a mistake to link the ongoing privacy and security issues; and laws on a single Presidency.  This latest example doesn’t surprise me after all of the “never in the news” incidents I’ve seen with our clients over the years.  But it also lends credibility to many businesses and individuals who may not be directly banned but “shadow banned” on social media and other US services.

I have my own experience after I posted a number of videos relating to US politics on Canada and the threat to our internet, my Google/Youtube account became inexplicably inaccessible for months.  I was never really banned, I never received a content strike.  I guess they could have tried but all of my statements were 100% sourced, verified and proven.  After months of contacting Google, my account was eventually restored but since then my Youtube videos get almost no views, or worse views than when my channel was new.  I was not “obviously banned” but believe I was shadow banned and couldn’t believe it myself.  I just spoke to actual facts about US policy and did not intend to insult or offend their government.  But I just couldn’t login with my password, the  Google system wouldn’t send a 2FA to my phone, and it said I have no recovery options even though that’s not true (I will eventually make a post on that experience).  Thankfully I don’t rely on Google services for e-mail, banking etc… but many people do.

I’ve made numerous posts about the places to host your VMs, Cloud and other data residency issues whether about the EU or the US.  They are never designed to offend either citizens, residents or the governments of those jurisdictions but my advice could be taken as a “negative review” of their country for hosting and privacy.  Perhaps it makes some officials uncomfortable that it can easily be proven their jurisdictions are not safe to host in.  My point is that if a small business who makes a few jokes on US social media can be banned for “hate speech”, then absolutely your business, hosting and livelihood is at risk of being shutdown by the US at any time.

But remember that even if you didn’t directly offend the US or make any comments that offended the government, that doesn’t mean you are safe.  We can see that the smallest comment from an individual or entity is enough to provoke a strong US response.  You could just be a company that they find “annoying” or “competing” with US interests and that would be enough to seize your data, domain and ban you from US social media.  I’ve written about when the US wanted a Chinese company and they ordered the Dutch to seize it and they complied.

And finally, if you make a Social Post that the US disagrees with, you could be deported immediately and the US government may even make it obvious to you that it is politically motivated by replying to your post . —https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/14/us-foreign-visas-charlie-kirk-social-media

I’ve laid out numerous actual cases where the US has seized companies, censored individuals, and shutdown, blocked or banned companies.  It could be your company next and some are so worried that we are even seeing more of our valued American clients asking us to help them.  They have endless tools to seize your business and assets through numerous public or private agencies and actions, they will find a way if they want to.  And even if you host outside US soil, if you host in a vassal state like most of the EU, the EU will comply with whatever the US requests, since they are unable to protect or defend themselves from US aggression.

This is particularly more important to understand now, more than it ever was.  If you use US based services even outside of the US, you could be hacked or shutdown at any time by an order from a government like the US (eg. the German incident).  You are also at risk if you are using a non-US service but like most, they are probably using US based servers or services to provide it, or a US vassal state, or a US front that may even appear to be non-US (eg. the VPN and Cloud hosting ala Swiss CryptoAG).

Take for example my own blog here, with it being a .com the US could seize it at any point for any reason based on any invented allegation.  This site is not hosted in the US but in terms of if this was my important business domain here’s what I would do and what we help our clients do:

1.) Register a TLD (Top Level Domain) in a place that has no US jurisdiction or will not listen to illegal demands or orders such as an .hk, .cn or even .ru or any other nation that will resist the US

2.) Host the site with a company like Techrich, or at least a non-US based company in a non-US controlled or influenced location.

3.) Setup your own Social Services like Mastodon and WordPress on domains and servers that you control from #2 above.

It’s never too early to make the move, but it may be too late once the US comes for you.  Feel free to contact me or my company if you want an evaluation of your company’s IT exposure to the US.