The Autistici/Inventati case has strong parallels to the recent TikTok ban: Congress banned the social media network under foreign-policy pretexts because American youth were using it to share otherwise First Amendment–protected content. As with the TikTok ban, outlawing Autistici/Inventati is a way to force users to move to services that are more easily monitored and controlled by the U.S. government.

“The idea that an organization that is an alternative host—for email, websites, and other services—could be designated a terrorist organization simply for providing a service that a lot of people want…is scary,” says Jillian York, director of international freedom of expression at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation. “This may sound a little conspiratorial, but the fact that this comes from an administration that is quite cozy with Silicon Valley giants, at a time when distrust of those companies is quite high from various parts of society, doesn’t seem to me a coincidence.”