"Or really go communist and shut access to the internet of if it really wanted to?"
This is not theoretical, and has happened numerous times in the last decades. I haven't bothered to count the number of times, or track the jurisdictions, that have just shut off the internet, or parts of the internet, in order to suppress speech. I believe that is ongoing in several jurisdictions right now, and to some degree or another in all jurisdictions on Earth. I believe Iran basically has shut down social media due to widespread protests at present, and vast areas of potential speech simply aren't practically available in any jurisdictions today.
I2p, Tor, and other such mechanisms seeking to obviate jurisdictional interference in free speech exist for that reason, but I believe are incapable of being implemented successfully to secure Hive from such interference.