The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Trump escalates war on social media companies
By ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
135 Comments
PTownsend
Once again Trump interferes with markets. Once again Trump attacks the free, for-profit press, guaranteed by the US Constitution. Trump continues his efforts to undermine the principles the republic was built on while trying to distract from the 100,000+ virus related deaths and a severely damaged economy.
Strangerland
So we have not just a government agency, but the top government agency in the land, directing their power against a private company, over comments posted on their private platform.
This is as egregious an offense to freedom of speech as America has ever seen. It is literally the quintessential definition of government overreach, and suppression of private citizens' right to speak out against the government.
We have the right going on about how the second amendment was bequeathed by god himself (god-given right), and how the constitution is more important than any document ever.
Yet they're entirely cool with pissing on it, in support of Don the Con.
So much for freedom of speech in America. It was a nice idea while it lasted.
bass4funk
Yes and sadly the liberals in the media have taken advantage of the Constitution used or rather misused it to silence conservatives whenever they felt was necessary.
And the social media world continues to use all efforts to undermine any conservatives opposing view they don’t like.
Oh, boy....here we go....
David Varnes
To cover up his plethora of failures, Trump once again picks a fight with a conservative strawman. But it doesn't erase his failures of leadership, failures of maturity, or just failures of manhood and humanity.
vanityofvanities
I consider Twitter and other social medias a place for gossips. So, I do not take it seriously. It was my surprise that President of the United States used it very often to state his opinions and express his "feelings." From its nature of social media, it is not official and ideas are written without deliberation.
Toasted Heretic
A shocking abuse of power by trump.
Social media was fine while it was aligned with him, but a suggestion that his lies might need scrutiny... and now it's a clampdown.
What a hypocrite.
PTownsend
Trump and his supporters long ago left behind traditional conservative principles, instead have opted for those most closely espoused by the alt right. (Google/Yandex alt right not conservative). The political/economic policies the alt right favor are similar to those found in states with strong authoritarian leaders who have control of markets and media. Xi leads China's system of authoritarian capitalism. Putin leads Russia's national socialism. (Putin, of course, only 'partially' controls his nation's media.) Trump and his supporters have claimed all along they want to undermine US systems, and to date appear to be successful
Toasted Heretic
This is false.
The numerous non-truths that are spread by the far right have to be challenged.
And even then, the right get to have their say.
It's those who challenge far right misinformation merchants who are silenced.
bass4funk
An even more shocking abuse of how liberals went buck wild with silencing conservatives.
No, it wasn’t fine for conservatives, but now it will be.
This is the view of liberal one-sided thinking and was the problem and it’s enough.
David Varnes
And the funny thing is... Trump wasn't 'silenced' in any way. His BS tweet was allowed to go through. So what silencing was done? What tweets of his, despite being blatantly against the Twitter terms of service, have been deleted?
Oh, wait... none.
Those darn inconvenient facts again. Why, we can't stand for this! I mean, facts must be liberal, the truth must be liberal! Why else would it be so against so many things Trump says?
Strangerland
Well, the good news is, on this day when the 100,000 dead Americans line has been crossed, at least Trump is on top of what's important to Americans: Making sure Trump isn't fact-checked.
The 100,000 dead are screaming in anger that Twitter dared fact check Dear Leader.
ArtistAtLarge
And an American president violates the 1st Amendment.
This is beyond the pale.
Ah_so
Over this spat, Donald Trump could effectively end free speech on the internet. He's certainly trying.
YouTube has been running warnings over certain videos for ages (e.g. flat earth videos). I don't see why Trump should expect different treatment given the levels of untruths he tells.
bass4funk
But radical leftists like Yoel Roth who is a sworn Trump basher can dictate and play God on twitter and say vile things about the President and conservatives and conservatives have to take it? If they fight back they get blocked, tweets deleted or accounts suspended, that’s acceptable?
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/twitter-fact-checker-has-history-of-politically-charged-posts/
Nothing like this: ”Today on Meet The Press, we’re speaking with Joseph Goebbels about the first 100 days…’ – What I hear whenever Kellyanne is on a news show,” Roth wrote, according to a 2017 tweet.
Roth in 2016 also tweeted his support for then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, writing, “I’ve never donated to a presidential campaign before, but I just gave $100 to Hillary for America. We can’t f–k around anymore.”
This guy shouldn’t be in any position to valuate anyone as radical and partisan as he is.
The Russia narrative played out long ago, you and Lincoln are beating a dead horse.
No, it’s a pity that partisans like Roth think they are Gods and can silence people they disagree with. Liberals have abused this power long enough and thank God Trump finally fixed it, long, long overdue.
PTownsend
I thought the modern brand of conservatives (conservatives in name only) were perfectly OK with Russians and their fellow global alt rightists using social media to help Trump. Or are you saying free speech should only be available for Trump supporters.
PTownsend
Not for me. And given the NSA's (whose director was appointed by Trump) current findings of more Russian involvement, I'd say that horse is mighty alive.
Strangerland
Twitter needs to return volley.
Block him altogether. It's a private platform, they have no responsibility to host him, nor does he have any right to be there.
If they did ban him, it would be too bad, since every time he tweets he take a little more rope with which to hang himself. But I'd love the rage he'd get losing his means of communicating. I mean, how would he Twit afterwards? And how would he freak out about losing Twitter!
Especially if the left stops reporting his comments. Then he'd be angry, and the left wouldn't even know. It would just be a bunch of right wing morons talking about how their going to exercise their second amendment right, and shoot anyone who tries to defend the first amendment.
HBJ
Congratulations America - you're one step closer to officially becoming an authoritarian state.
Arrrgh-Type
Twitter and Facebook are the lifeblood of Trump and his allies. They'll rant and they'll rave, and they'll play the victim, but at the end of the day, they're not going anywhere. They know how critical it is for his campaign.
Of course, this being a free market and all, they could make their own social media app, but that would require actual work and coordination. Much better to complain and keep using the free one.
Strangerland
You do have to give credit to Trump - he's the moron whisperer. These are the people who have been spazzing for the past few years about freedom of speech, and now they're freaking out encouraging him to clamp down on the freedom of speech of private American companies and citizens.
Trump is the moron whisperer, because with a few tweets, he can make them sell out, sell their soles, and contradict everything they've ever claimed (aka lied) was the most important thing - the constitution.
bass4funk
This is very true. Roth can say incredible lies about conservatives and block them at his leisure because he’s not happy with opposing points of views?
And then get their account disabled. Now why is Kathy Griffin’s account is still up?
But far left liberals are allowed to silence people “they feel” are a danger, they don’t get to have that right, who are they to judge what is right and what is not?
gogogo
100,000 people dead and Trump only cares about twitter? The death toll is twice WW1!
ulysses
If our beloved president, trump leaves Twitter I will miss him for sure.
Where else could we see proof of his unfiltered stupidity day after day!!!!
bass4funk
That was debunked already, that’s why Mueller had nothing.
To everyone, not just people that Roth feels are getting on his nerves.
It shouldn’t be. But it is...
Twitter’s “Head of Site Integrity” Yoel Roth, who is in charge of the team responsible for developing and enforcing the social media site’s rules, faced heavy criticism Wednesday for previous 2017 tweets in which he referred to team Trump as “ACTUAL NAZIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE” and called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a “personality-free bag of farts.”
Not the President, they’re not that stupid, but other conservatives, yes.
Whatsnext
Interesting that leftist here calling it an attack on freedom of speech when it is the tech companies that have been censoring people's speech on their platforms. Talk about mental gymnastics. You're not fooling anyone, but yourselves.
ulysses
Come January 2021, our beloved president trump will face a few lawsuits which require his tweets to be shown as evidence.
Since that will drive him into bankruptcy, I request Twitter to allow our beloved president to ruin himself without any filters.
plasticmonkey
Trump tweeted a claim that is demonstrably false: that mail-in ballots lead to widespread fraud. Trump does not back up this assertion with any evidence, but when he is fact checked with refuting evidence he screams foul.
Trump has the biggest megaphone in the world, and he grouses about being silenced.
Twitter is a private entity and it can at the least point out to its users if they are being fed lies. That is reasonable, I think.
Trump is a truly deranged and destructive man. He operates only on his own behalf. It boggles the mind that his supporters don’t recognize this.
Strangerland
Yup. Private platform, freedom of speech.
Boo hoo to you.
Strangerland
Trump has become a liability to Twitter. They need to drop him yesterday.
Pull the Twitter out fro under his feet. That's the right of Freedom of Speech which Twitter enjoys, same as all Americans.
plasticmonkey
Who is this Roth anyway? Does he rival the president in his impact on public discourse?
Thanks for the early morning boogeyman. Like usual, you can’t defend the actions of your evil president.
Whatsnext
Wasn't just a week ago the leftist commenters here were applauding censorship by YouTube? Very hypocritical.
Whatsnext
Wow now censorship is considered freedom of speech. Talk about digging yourselves into a hole.
PTownsend
NEVER debunked.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/apr/22/bipartisan-filing-sees-meddling-by-russ/?elections
https://www.wired.com/story/nsa-sandworm-exim-mail-server-warning/
But if global alt rightists, those who work to undermine the US and the principles the republic was built on, want to continue to trust the Kremlin, of course they're free to.
ClippetyClop
His tweets haven't been censored. They haven't even been altered. How many times does this need explaining to you?
None of this would be a problem if Trump didn't lie.
Blacklabel
So all trump did was: amend some of the provisions of section 230 of the communications decency act to provide methods for public reporting of bias and remove some liability shields for posted content.
plus some government oversight, which liberals love when Dems doing it.
guess who wants the entire act revoked? Good ole Joe. So Biden wants even more action taken than the actions you blame trump for. Oops
PTownsend
Actually I'm quite familiar with the principles, which is why I oppose Trump and his global alt right supporter's efforts to undermine them. I support freedom of the press, freedom of speech and most importantly the Constitution's separation of powers.
Strangerland
The office of the President, is using that office to try to silence a private entity for exercising their freedom of speech.
And the morons defend it.
The Avenger
Trump never misses an opportunity to prove that he is unfit for office.
100,000+ dead and the focus is on fact-checked hurt feelings?
Strangerland
I support Twitter in banning Trump altogether out of principle.
The principle being that the troll in chief deserves a good trolling.
bass4funk
Not anymore.
Strangerland
Bass: Freedom of Speech, just watch what you say.
Blacklabel
twitter was a platform. Different rules now.
bass4funk
Twitter’s “Head of Site Integrity”
Yoel Roth, who is in charge of the team responsible for developing and enforcing the social media site’s rules,
He pulls the trigger on what you can or cannot say.
Now the playing is just that.
Blacklabel
Biden wants to get rid of law that shields companies like Facebook from liability for what their users post
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/17/biden-wants-to-get-rid-of-techs-legal-shield-section-230.html
Strangerland
A true American hero this week!
bass4funk
It was debunked, it failed.
And the radical liberals will continue to beat a dead horse with no listeners.
Blacklabel
Both Trump and Biden have criticized Big Tech's favorite law — here's what Section 230 says and why they want to change it
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/28/what-is-section-230.html
PTownsend
Trump has any number of media options for spreading his 'intentional misinformations'. Curious why not one pro-Trump supporter has posted anything saying Trump needs to be truthful. But then fractals don't vary much at any level.
u_s__reamer
"There is no precedent in American history for so small a number of corporations to control so large a sphere of human interaction.”
Sez born-again "socialist" Don. Seriously, the orange analphabet had someone spell this out for him so a coherent sentence could result. No matter, Twitter should have shut him down long ago for ignoring Melania's "Be Best!" messaging and indulging his instinct for cynical and insulting cyber-bullying, conduct that is unworthy of any human being and signally unworthy of a Potus. There is no chance that Trump will be able to restrict freedom of expression because of his personal umbrage, but I shudder to think of America's shame when this imposter's legacy is finally set in concrete as the "Donald J. Trump Twitter Memorial Library" The words of the American Nobel Laureate would serve well as the epitaph for Trump's disastrous presidency:
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now’s the time for your tears.
Strangerland
The ghosts of 100,000 Americans dead of coronavirus have issued a statement:
We are glad that Trump is tackling this most important issue of his being fact-checked at this dire time.
ClippetyClop
Trump's next dodgy tweet should be highlighted in flames, and have a strike symbol next to it. Strike three and you're on Discord.
Whatsnext
You all making this as if there factcheck bull is the only reason trump did this. Censorship has been going on by tech companies for years. It's just the straw that broke the camel's back. You're all very dishonest and not fooling anyone with your fake free speech rhetoric.
Strangerland
Biden is responsible for every old aching bone ever. Except for the gripes that the right is spouting, which is all of them.
Blacklabel
It is very clear even to purposely obtuse people that it is who is doing the fact check that is in dispute. and who is fact checked compared with who is not.
Ah_so
Twitter is still a platform. Your line that it has become a publisher on account of providing a link to facts is quite erroneous.
It does not control what people say. When the President makes unsubstantiated claims, it is allowing a mechanism for people to check those claims.
Peter Neil
Wait a minute...
If he hates Twitter so much and wants to shut it down, why does he use it so much?
The whole incident of trying to smear Joe Scarborough and infer that he murdered the intern is disgusting. The intern died in his Florida office and he was in Washington at the time.
I am sick of this Trump Reality Show.
bass4funk
Yes, he did.
Im not talking about Trump, focus. This is about conservatives in general.
Ah_so
No one has yet contested anything in the accuracy of the fact check links that Twitter provided.
I think that e can take this as tacit admission that they are accurate and therefore that Trump was inaccurate.
Surely it is great to have this clarified - he is POTUS, so we wouldn't want him spreading misinformation.
bass4funk
So and so who’s going to factor the liberals disinformation?
Depends on what it is you’re saying, but Trump does not own a social media outlet, that’s the difference.
Says the people that supported the Russia hoax, give me a break. Lol
Strangerland
It's because they're so DISGUSTED with Twitter exercising their freedom-of-speech as a private platform, in criticizing Trump. They are of the opinion that this is such an abuse of the freedom of speech, that in fact in this case the constitution is wrong, and Twitter's freedom-of-speech MUST be restricted.
No fascism here. Carry on.
Blacklabel
Great! Is this Service provided for every post by every user in even handed non biased manner? Or only certain viewpoints or by political leaning?
Strangerland
Whichever your platform starts, so that you can exercise your freedom of speech, the same way Twitter has expressed theirs.
That's the great thing about America, it's a free market, and anyone is welcome to overthrow Twitter with a better platform.
Strangerland
You mean like how Fox and Brietbart report in an even handed manner?
Strangerland
Why would they ever do that? They have freedom of speech. They should exercise it to fact-check Republicans only. Republicans can start their own alternative-fact-check platform to compete.
Good riddance!
Blacklabel
better publisher, not platform. Publishers editorialize content.
Strangerland
I think that if this whole incident has shown us anything, it's that Twitter should kick him off.
bass4funk
By silencing conservatives? As if liberals would be tolerant if the roles were reversed, good one, Strange. Lol
Trump pretty much just did. “Freedom of speech” as you said.
Artemis Rogers
I think you meant in comparison to right leaning tweets. But consider the fact you cannot even hear the complaints about deleted material from the leftists, because their messages were deleted and they were banned.
Why is this happening? Well I suspect the recent crackdowns were to undercut Bernie Sanders. Maybe they will calm down now that he is out? Now its establishment Jailin' Joe Biden, oddest winner of the medal of freedom EVER, vs. a much cowed and now establishment trained megalomaniac Donald Trump.
As ever talk of cracking down on social media giants is for all the wrong reasons and will give us either no results or completely useless and unneeded changes. People simply need to be provided software to block content via their own choice not have these hidden fascists delete things before we can make up our own minds.
sf2k
His account should have been deleted years ago for lying harassment and threats, all against the Terms of Service.
Conservatives that can't follow the rules are the cancer of the Internet. In the early days they weren't online at all and it was bliss. Political discourse wasn't toxic and views were back and forth but never to the level of a reality break like the fine example of the trolls posting here. We had moderators that kicked people off that were weirdos and malcontents against the TOS. It was just done.
As long as the processes outlined in Merchants of Doubt continue to be employed, gaslighting, denials, obfuscation, lying, as long as that is the norm then society continues to crumble.
More so in the USA as it lacks any sense of public trust or responsibility aka Faux News, but you can find any offshoot of that in any country now. The Conservatives are the problem everywhere because they embraced and increased the discord. They were ripe for manipulation because IRL they are not heard. You can't build a society of caring citizens.
We are really seeing the cold war China Russia USA put online
Strangerland
I think you meant in comparison to right leaning tweets.
Nope. For every right-leaning Tweet that is deleted on Twitter, two left-leaning posts are deleted.
Conservatives have been avoiding this fact the whole time. It doesn't fit into their narrative.
Strangerland
Silly, no one deleted anything of Trump's.
No, what they actually did was far more evil and nefarious. They fact-checked him.
Artemis Rogers
As a centrist I suggest reaching out to your brothers on the right. They too are being censored just not as hard as the left. They get it less because they are more pro-establishment, even as the establishment abuses them. This is what you need to call them on. Regaining actual freedom of speech will help all us little people, but we will never do it divided.
Beware though. Many people posting the rubbish you hate most are not real conservatives but just paid trolls who want to keep us divided, arguing and clicking.
Strangerland
The divide has been created. The right destroyed the ability for an honest conversation, by spending eight years obstructing Obama, and now four years whining about it being done to them. By refusing to discuss, or even acknowledge, any of Trump's clear failings as a president. By misrepresenting reality with 'alternate facts'.
It's too late. There is no recovery from this divide. They voted in a troll as president, and then they claimed victim. They're beyond all morality.
Bjorn Tomention
"They’ve had unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter virtually any form of communication between private citizens or large public audiences,"
SuperLib
Trump better be careful or else he's going to get himself banned.
Blacklabel
Well, the executive order was signed. The “power of the pen and phone” that the last guy loved to boast about.
just wait and see what happens next
Strangerland
Trump uses the power of the presidency to threaten and impede upon the freedom of speech of a private platform.
60 million morons rejoice.
HBJ
So we have a situation where a compulsive liar is angry that a private company has the audacity to suggest its users check the accuracy of a statement that appears to be false. In retaliation at finally being called out, he screams unfair, and threatens to wield his power to 'show 'em what for'. His solution is to attempt to prohibit genuine free speech, in order to maintain his own 'free speech' that hasn't actually been impaired.
The mental gymnastics that Trump fans are having to perform in order to support him on this issue is ridiculous.
There is absolutely nothing they wouldn't defend him about. This is a cult, and the sooner he is democratically removed from office the better.
Strangerland
As a non-American, this move by Trump is actually beneficial. If Trump can destroy the freedom of platoforms to be able to operate in America due to a lack of Freedom of Speech, it holds American companies back, giving foreign alternatives a stronger position in the global playing field.
So as much as I feel for my American brothers and sisters for the loss of the first amendment, I can't help but feel that this is a good thing in the necessity of the world shift it's dependence off of America.
Strangerland
Essentially this makes American platforms the same as Wechat or Weibo in China - useful in their country (as long as you watch what you say), but useless outside the country.
Anyone here using Wechat for anything other than communicating with friends in China?
Strangerland
Whose panicking. I think this is a good thing for the world to shift off of dependence upon American platforms. Now that Trump has restricted their freedom of speech, and turned them into weapons of the state, the rest of the world will become just as suspicious of American platforms as they are of Chinese.
The only real question is which country steps up with platforms that allow freedom of speech.
WilliB
Well, he is stating a fact there. The censorship and opinion promotion that Twitter, Fakebook et al are doing (e.g. inserting CNN opinions after Trump tweets and calling them "facts"..... really, give me a break) is most certainly political activism.
On the other hand, I am not sure if removing the article 230 protection is the best way to address this... the cure could be worse than the disease.
Until I know more, I am agnostic about this.
Blacklabel
Say it ain’t so Joe.
”Most critics of Section 230 recognize the importance of maintaining some of its key elements, like moderation protections. Former Vice President Joe Biden revealed himself as a notable exception.”
Strangerland
Joe biden is responsible for every spilled milk and tear that followed afterwards ever.
Except for one. Obama is responsible for that one.
(And Hillary)
Strangerland
And Fox News fact-checks anything?
Hah, what a joke.
Age of Asparagus
Yet Facebook deletes video links posted in PRIVATE messaging it deems not being the truth.
Strangerland
Fox News thinks fact checking is when one applies alternative facts to a situation.
Like the alternative fact that Twitter stopped Trump from saying anything, or altered the contents of his tweet one bit.
The morons keep trying to skip past that point, as if we're as stupid as the morons who actually believe that.
Strangerland
I do have to say, as far as smart business (ignoring ethics) goes, Zuckerberg is being extremely smart. With Dear Leader focusing the power of the presidency to silence private companies, Zuckerberg is smart to kiss ass, so that maybe he can get an exemption from this government overreach.
Toasted Heretic
Conservative voices are rarely silenced.
Some have free rein to post all manner of misinformation and bigotry, whilst those who question the falsehoods and motivation behind them are routinely suspended, deleted and censored.
WilliB
Maybe, I don´t watch them regularly. But this is certainly what CNN thinks... and Jack Dorsey has now decided that his Twitter is the arbiter of truth, and CNN = truth.
WilliB
Strangerland:
I would assume they do NOT fact-check "everything"... I don´t even think that is possible.
But in what universe does that turn a CNN opinion article into a "fact"?
Strangerland
Maybe some day they'll start with something. But as usual, the right logic is "we can't do it 100%, so even trying is useless".
Heh, who cares? Freedom of speech.
Strangerland
Dorsey (and this new Yoel guy) should kick Trump off, then require he kiss their boots publicly before letting him back on.
Stewie
China and Russia sitting back with a smug grin.
Toasted Heretic
It's certainly time.
If trump shuts down twitter, he loses everything.
But dictators aren't known to think about consequences.
PTownsend
Excellent question. Is free speech allowed in your country? Which platforms or publishers there would you say are good examples of allowing free speech and providing objective, bias-free reporting.
Strangerland
Alt-right logic: The second amendment is our god-given right to shoot people who try to stop Trump from shutting down the freedom-of-speech of a private platform.
bass4funk
They do, that’s the reason why they have the least amount of retractions.
Serrano
Trump is a total failure.
Biden 2020
Bottom photo: Hey, isn't that the guy in whose office a 28 year old female aide was found dead, her skull smashed with multiple fractures?
bass4funk
He’s not trying to shut it down.
This is why Trump stopped the liberal dictatorial nonsense of Roth.
Strangerland
Yeah, that's the reason Bass.
BlackFlagCitizen
I thought the Republicans were against "big government?" Please...
Toasted Heretic
Sound more like one of the youtube basement videos... oh my.
PTownsend
Given your media insider-ship I assume you're able to access sources that say that. I used Google and found nothing. Should I have used Yandex? I have read that roughly 40% of one survey's respondents claimed to trust Fox most. That's about the same percentage of Americans who support Trump. But then Fox is part of the Trump/Rupert Murdoch media network.
bass4funk
I thought liberals were for freedom of speech....
sunfunbun
Trump is a beneficiary of article 230.
Trump's used Twitter for lies, defamation and threats, which were allowed because platforms were not held legally liable. Now, he wants to make it legally liable, because he's butt hurt by Twitter? I know he's too dumb to realize attacking Twitter attacks himself, but he's an idiotic juvenile. Plus, oh yeh, it's a fascist move to silence free speech. Very unpatriotic, but very Trump...he doesn't care actually about America.
He'll fail. And still use Twitter. What a joke, he is.
Strangerland
Exactly. No one has restricted his freedom of speech, he's allowed to post on whatever platform he wants.
PTownsend
But isn't increasing 'tribalization' what your organization wants? I thought you guys were all about divide and conquer, what Trump and other alt rightists around the globe want to do to further undermine democracies.
browny1
Thanksgiving is still far away, but the big turkey is gobbling big time.
With the reams of demeaning, denigrating, defamatory tripe Trump has tweeted out over the tears, he freaks out - not at being censored, but at being advised - to the extent that he now is trying to live up to his motto, "I can do anything I want".
Talk about taking away the liberties of citizens and their beloved 1st amendment (his chronic narcissism doesn't allow him to see the hypocrisy)
Talk about divisive hate being spewed at a time of a major health crisis impacting millions.
The Trumpeteers will just say again, "Oh it's just Trump being Trump - get over it". But this time he has directly threatened the freedom of the people with this bout of tyranny - and tyranny it is.
True-value conservatives who have faith in justice and right of law must be spinning out.
Strangerland
The families of 100,000 dead Americans must be proud of their government, that this dire issue of being fact-checked is being properly prioritized with the requisite amount of resources being redirected from the pandemic to stifling Twitter's freedom of speech.
WilliB
Just to deviate from the partisan bickering, here is a comment by Robert Barnes I came across on Twatter:
If that is what Trumps executive order does, it looks totally fine to me. It would preserve the concept and protections of article 230 and put a brake on Big Techs election interference. Anybody would have a problem with that?
serendipitous1
Trump is too stupid to realize that opinions are different from facts. If Trump tweeted that there are 500 million people in the US or that he thinks the world is actually a triangle and not round, Twitter would also apply the fact check mark to such tweets. The number of cases of mail-in ballots that have been fraudulent in the past is tiny so his tweet is wrong, not factual, and therefore misleading.
Strangerland
As a non-American, I fully support any restrictions of freedom of speech imposed by the White House upon Twitter and other social media platforms.
Weighing these companies down, will give companies in other countries a more level playing field off which to launch.
Strangerland
I have no problem with Trump imposing governmental regulations and restrictions on SNS platforms in America.
I encourage it.
Hervé L'Eisa
Good! Any conservative can tell you that non-leftist speech has been getting censored for quite some time, but increasingly so since the non-election of hillary.
sunfunbun
This is 100% true, it's nice to see it pop up all the time.
bass4funk
I don’t see that happening, but if liberals in Europe want to create an even bigger liberal echo chamber, more power to them.
Strangerland
I agree!
As such, I fully support Trump in his government regulation on SNS platforms. It's about time.
Texas A&M Aggie
Twitter is a mult-billion dollar business. It could have found other ways to advance its uber-leftist agenda. Instead, it decided to shift from being an empty vessel social media platform to a publishing company; and by doing so, it vacated all the special provisions it was accorded to it by Congress.
By being a private business advancing a political stance that supports one political party over another, Twitter now runs the risk of violating FTC regulations by making an illegal in kind contribution to the DNC.
Of the 100's of tweets President Trump has made over the years that Twitter could have focused on, it's interesting that they chose the mail-in voting issue as the hill that they are willing to die on.
Peter Neil
Who would have thought that a tax dodging, draft dodging, pathological liar obsessed with Twitter would be the darling of American conservatives?
bass4funk
Yeah, well, the Marxist and his revolutionary cause just got busted. Know what I smell....that’s the smell of fairness, I love the smell of fairness in the morning.
PTownsend
I still haven't read your reply to this:
I checked the thread and found nothing.
Strangerland
Heh fairness.
In this day and age?
Nope.
Long Live Yoel!
bass4funk
Ok, so where are these so called mythical companies of which you speak?
What are you talking about? Lol
Yes, I never said he was fired, he just got neutered and it’s about time.
lincolnman
Unfettered free speech? Trump doesn't want any of that...
He's learned from his BFF Putin that free speech just allows your corruption and criminal activities to be discovered and highlighted...
Better to have sick, slobbering, sycophants like Hannity, Pirro, Ingraham, and Dobbs - brain-dead idiots that praise your every word...like "Colorado is on our southern border"...