Facebook upholds Trump ban
Posted by Thomas Bush / May 6, 2021
A Facebook-appointed panel has upheld Trump’s prohibition on the platform.Facebook banned Trump from its platform for the rest of his term following the violence at the Capitol. Following Trump’s rabble-rousing, which led to a group of out-of-control rioters storming the United States Capitol, Twitter also suspended Trump’s account for 12-hours and forced him to delete several tweets. Twitter has promised to ban Trump if he continues to incite violence.
Several weeks ago, President Trump angrily ranted about Twitter (on Twitter, as usual), implying it was a threat to national security and expressing the desire to change the laws in order to shut it down. It’s unlikely that such a thing would happen, but his threats come as no surprise.
Trump’s twitter fan base is shrinking. Followers are abandoning him by the thousands. In the last week alone, he’s lost 46,000 followers. On November 25 alone, he lost 10,000 followers.
Twitter has confirmed that it will hand over the keys to @POTUS to Joe Biden on inauguration day, even if Donald Trump doesn’t concede the election. It’s time we reflect on the nature of democracy when a tech company has any influence in on the validity of a presidential transition.
Almost as soon as he lost the election, people began speculating if he could be permanently banned. CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey has confirmed that is indeed the case. After January 20, Trump will lose “world leader” status and, as a result, could be banned if he violates Twitter rules––which he almost certainly will.
Before the election, Twitter locked the New York Post’s account after the publication posted totally unverified and almost-certainly fraudulent. Twitter will not unlock the account until the posts are removed.
Earlier this year, Twitter waged a war against misinformation––or, against the president––by attaching another label to the President’s tweets. This time, Trump tweeted out a doctored video, which Twitter labeled as manipulated. The war started when Trump complained about Twitter, and then he signed an executive order targeting social media, which, according to the New York Times, might actually backfire on him. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey warned that the company would continue to fact check any information related to elections.
More news.
Comments are off for this post.