WASHINGTON ― The Daily Stormer, a website started by a neo-Nazi, has promoted racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and misogynistic content since it was founded in 2013. But this week, after a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, several tech companies effectively kicked the site off the internet.

Some of the companies that stopped doing business with The Daily Stormer argued that the website violated their terms of service by inciting violence, which major internet companies prohibit.

But a CEO at of one of those firms sent an email to staffers on Wednesday that frankly acknowledged what other tech companies have refused to admit publicly: The interpretation of terms of service is often subjective, giving internet infrastructure companies the power to effectively shut down their customers’ websites whenever they feel like it. That leaves any group’s ability to keep operating its website subject to the arbitrary whims of private firms.

“Any tactic used now to silence neo-Nazis will soon be used against others.”

“I woke up in a bad mood and decided someone shouldn’t be allowed on the Internet,” Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare, wrote of his company’s decision to stop offering The Daily Stormer protection from distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyberattacks from hackers. Prince acknowledged that his decision could set a dangerous precedent. “No one should have that power,” he told staffers.

Your group or cause could be next

Private companies should not take it upon themselves to decide what content deserves to be on the internet, free speech advocates argue. “On the Internet, any tactic used now to silence neo-Nazis will soon be used against others, including people whose opinions we agree with,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group, wrote in a statement.

If tech companies’ actions against The Daily Stormer serve as a precedent, the same companies could be pressured into censoring groups like Black Lives Matter, EFF noted.