President Donald Trump has condemned social media censorship in the wake of Facebook’s lifetime ban on several prominent conservative commentators, warning the platforms he is “monitoring and watching” them.
“I am continuing to monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms,” Trump tweeted on Friday, putting Facebook and other sites on notice. “This is the United States of America - and we have what’s known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH!”
Trump’s warning echoed the words of his son Donald Trump Jr., who called on conservatives to “fight back” against Big Tech’s “next level” censorship, in a tweet posted earlier on Friday.
The president specifically mentioned Hollywood star James Woods and Infowars’ Paul Joseph Watson as two “Conservative thinkers” he was “surprised” to see banned from social media platforms. While Woods’ Twitter page has not been removed, his last tweet was posted over a week ago and many, including his girlfriend, have speculated that he has been banned.
He also called out Facebook for how “horribly” it had treated black conservative commentator sisters Diamond & Silk, who saw engagement on their page drop off steeply after their content was labeled “unsafe to the community” by Facebook employees.
Trump’s supporters applauded the president for finally standing up for them.
and suggested he go on the offensive.
Others seemed to think it was too little, too late.
The #Resistance pointed out that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to corporations,
and called the commander-in-chief out as a hypocrite,
telling him to focus on the country’s “real” problems.
President Trump met with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey last week to discuss social media censorship of conservatives.
Facebook banned Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, and a handful of other popular conservative figures - plus Louis Farrakhan - on Thursday, citing its policy on “dangerous individuals and organizations.” The platform announced it will remove even groups and events promoting content from the banned users.
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