perhaps because the threat of "comply or there will be consequences" worked.
Except most of the posts pointed out to places like Twitter stayed up with no moderation applied and the worst thing that's happened to Twitter recently is it's acquisition by Musk.
this is rewriting history .. the hysterical and high-pitched censorship of all things COVID-19 set a new low for the USA in modern times IMHO
California here
Coercion doesn't have to be effective to be illegal, just like a bribe doesn't have to be accepted to be a bribe.
Why coerce when you can pay for it? The FBI just paid Twitter to do their dirty work.