Trump Blasts Twitter Censorship: 'Ridiculous, Illegal and Very Unfair'
President calls Twitter's manipulation of the Trending section 'disgusting'
© press
President Donald Trump reaffirmed his stance on Twitter censorship on Monday, calling the social media giant’s alleged manipulation of its "Trending" section “disgusting.”
Trump tweeted:
“So disgusting to watch Twitter’s so-called ‘Trending,' where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one."
"They look for anything they can find, make it as bad as possible, and blow it up, trying to make it trend. Really ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair.”
So disgusting to watch Twitter’s so-called “Trending”, where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one. They look for anything they can find, make it as bad as possible, and blow it up, trying to make it trend. Really ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2020
Twitter claims that their trends are “determined by an algorithm and, by default, are tailored for you based on who you follow, your interests, and your location.”
© press
The platform also claims, “the number of Tweets that are related to the trends is just one of the factors the algorithm looks at when ranking and determining trends.”
But Twitter has been accused of censoring and shadow-banning conservatives and recently purged thousands of Qanon accounts, which are made up of Trump supporters.
The company also censored tweets from the president for allegedly “glorifying violence” during the outbreak of the George Floyd protests.
“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let this happen," the president tweeted.
"Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way.
"Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you.”
Twitter added a disclaimer to the tweet, which hid the message until the users click "view."
© press
"This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible," the disclaimer read.
Trump said the censored tweet was taken out of context, arguing the platform is quick to censor him while ding nothing to stop propaganda from China and the “radical left” Democrats.
The presdient signed an executive order in May that interprets Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) as not providing statutory liability shields for tech companies that engage in censoring political content.
The order came two days after Twitter placed a "misleading" warning label on two of Trump's tweets regarding mail-in voting.
In May, Trump accused the platform of "interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election."
The president dropped the hammer with full force on Jack Dorsey's microblogging network, slamming Twitter for "stifling free speech" before declaring that "I, as President, will not allow it to happen!"
