‘Immense power’: Trump blasts social media companies over censorship in UNGA speech as US lawmakers push for more control

US President Donald Trump used his speech to the UN General Assembly to slam efforts by social media companies to censor and control what people can see and are allowed to say online.

Trump blasted the “small number of social media platforms” which he said were “acquiring immense power over what we can see and over what we are allowed to say."

A free society, Trump said, “cannot allow social media giants to silence the voices of the people” — and a free people “must never, ever be enlisted in the cause of silencing, coercing, canceling, or blacklisting their own neighbors.”

He said his administration has made it clear to social media companies that it would "uphold the right of free speech.”

Trump, an avid Twitter user himself, has often weighed into the debate over social media censorship and argued that platforms like Facebook and Twitter are biased against conservative views.

His latest comments come as US lawmakers and establishment media are increasingly calling on companies like Facebook and Twitter to engage in more censorship under the guise of combating “hate speech” and “fake news.”

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have all taken steps over the past year to ban controversial conservative figures and other agitators from their platforms, seeming to arbitrarily apply their "rules" and "community guidelines.”

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