Trump Threatens Social Media After Twitter Fact-checks Him

16
President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an event on protecting seniors with diabetes in the Rose Garden White House, Tuesday, May 26, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened social media companies with new regulation or even shuttering after Twitter moved a day earlier to add fact checks to two of his tweets.

Join our WhatsApp group

Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


Claiming tech giants “silence conservative voices,” Trump said, “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.”

And he repeated his unsubstantiated claim — which sparked his latest showdown with Silicon Valley — that expanding mail-in voting “would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots.”

The president can’t unilaterally regulate or close social media companies, as such moves would require action by Congress or the Federal Communications Commission.

Trump and his campaign angrily lashed out Tuesday after Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicted that “mail boxes will be robbed,” among other things. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that guides users to a Twitter “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.

Trump replied on Twitter, accusing the platform of “interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election” and insisting that “as president, I will not allow this to happen.” His 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said Twitter’s “clear political bias” had led the campaign to pull “all our advertising from Twitter months ago.” Twitter has banned all political advertising since last November.

Trump did not explain his threat Wednesday, and the call to expand regulation appeared to fly in the face of long-held conservative principles on deregulation.

But some Trump allies, who have alleged bias on the part of tech companies, have questioned whether platforms like Twitter and Facebook should continue to enjoy liability protections as “platforms” under federal law — or be treated more like publishers, which could face lawsuits over content.

The protections have been credited with allowing the unfettered growth of the internet for more than two decades, but now some Trump allies are advocating that social media companies face more scrutiny.

“Big tech gets a huge handout from the federal government,” Republican Sen. Josh Hawley told Fox News. “They get this special immunity, this special immunity from suits and from liability that’s worth billions of dollars to them every year. Why are they getting subsidized by federal taxpayers to censor conservatives, to censor people critical of China.”


Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


Connect with VINnews

Join our WhatsApp group


16 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
PaulinSaudi
PaulinSaudi
3 years ago

I think the President has gotten much worse in the last two weeks.

a yid
a yid
3 years ago

No doubt corona virus affects his cerebral tissue

a yid
a yid
3 years ago

he will step on any legal institution, disregard any law if they impede his will

anonymous
anonymous
3 years ago

So long as they allow hate tweets, false tweets from political opponents, obscene threatening tweets ___ then shut it down.
The leftist tech mob allows everything else without “fact checks”.
Shut them down, Mr. Prsiident.
They’re out of control.
Did they fact check PencilNeck Fithy liar ??

Was a democrat then I saw the light
Was a democrat then I saw the light
3 years ago

When organization such as Twitter or google or Facebook begin to Edit what’s being posted as news stories there are problems. Especially when twitters editor is a South American leftest radical
But then again you fools don’t read actual
News

laughter
laughter
3 years ago

Trump and Biden are in a race to see who can do better at saying stupid things and Trump is definitely way ahead of Biden.

RexTillersonSaid
RexTillersonSaid
3 years ago

Trump threatens…(you fill in the blank.)

Phineas
Phineas
3 years ago

This is a man whose campaign was repeating conspiracy theories online that the Clintons ran a pedophile ring from a D.C. pizza store.

He can’t shut down Twitter because then he’ll have nothing to occupy himself with all day.

Mark
Mark
3 years ago

Oh trump please shut down Twitter And start with your account first. The world will be a much safer place.

Yaakov Doe
Yaakov Doe
3 years ago

Trump becomes more unhinged every week and has been tweeting some bizarre things recently and asking yesterday if he should perhaps take insulin. Perhaps the guilt over the 100,000 deaths from a virus that he had under control and would go away in April is what’s driving the latest crazyness,
Many have said he’s batsh… crazy.

He’s unfit to serve and should be removed via the 25th Amendment.

anonymous
anonymous
3 years ago

He did the same to MSNBC, CNN , NYT. When he was running they gave him 2 Billion Free ads. They helped elect him. He loved them. MSNBC was his favorite. When he did not like them anymore it become FAKE News. He is doing the same to Fox now. He doesnt like Fox Polls showing Biden ahead by 12%. Now he is after twitter. He just doesnt like the NEWS, FACTS.