I don’t see a chilling effect. If anything it’s a heating and dividing effect, but certainly this isn’t making people quieter about the debate.. see this comment thread for proof.
It’s definitely a threat. But I don’t see any people backing down, and using “chilling” to me is just pathos to try and make one side seem right. It’s a disagreement on what to do and how to run our big platforms.
He made threats to retaliate, clearly to chill speech he disagrees with.
They are not the same thing. Not even close. And businesses will have to take his behavior into account, especially if some people give him a pass for this.
Trump keeps moving the bar, or trying to, in terms of pushing back against any organizational or legal limits on himself.
It has been both amazing and depressing to see how quickly people start making excuses for him, and declaring his behavior acceptable when it is clearly corruption.