The obvious difference is that Twitter isn't the government.

It is not, though this gets at the subtext of this whole thing: companies with greater power than many national governments.

Tech CEOs can now influence the public as much or more so than any politicians. So this is fundamentally about power to influence.

Trump is mad because he thinks he is and should be the most powerful person on the planet. This action stands in contrast to that.

Companies do not have the power to throw people in jail or legally kill with a military.

> Companies do not have the power to throw people in jail or legally kill with a military.

Blackwater is a private enterprise and arguably is able to legally kill (and is in a sense a form of private military). Beyond that obvious example, private police agencies have existed in the US for some time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_police_in_the_United...

Um... What is the United Fruit Company?

A lot of people don't like the idea of these social media (i.e. ad-tech) companies trying to influence public opinion, especially when these platforms initially billed themselves neutral parties.