Business this week

Business this week

Social-media companies, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, kicked Donald Trump off their platforms for inciting the mob that stormed Congress. Twitter's ban is permanent, a blow for a man who last year tweeted 6,280 times (over 17 a day on average) and retweeted 5,956 items. Questions were raised about the implications for free speech. Parler, a social network favoured by right wingers who are banned from other forums, was also muzzled. Its app was dropped by Apple and Google, and Amazon stopped hosting it in the cloud. See article.Flight testThe American government issued an edict that all air passengers travelling to the United States must test negative for covid-19 a minimum of three days before their departure. Airlines will be required to deny boarding to anyone who cannot produce evidence of the test. The International Air Transport Association has criticised such moves, its director-general this week lamenting that “governments are not interested in managing a balanced approach to the risks” of the disease, making it impossible for the travel and tourism industries to recover.Moderna is working with Uber to disseminate information about the safety of its vaccine through the ride-hailing app. Uber also hopes people will be able to book