President Donald Trump is accusing social media companies of “totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices” and says “we won’t let that happen.”
Trump’s Saturday morning tweets come as companies have been working to ban right-wing “Infowars” conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms.
Apple, YouTube and Spotify have permanently removed some of his content, Facebook has suspended him for 30 days and removed some of his pages, while Twitter has given Jones a weeklong timeout and is mulling deeper changes to try to limit the spread of fake news, misinformation and hate speech.
Trump did not mention Jones by name in his tweets, which complained that, “Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad.”
Trump appeared on Jones’ program during the 2016 campaign and praised his “amazing” reputation.
Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
…..Censorship is a very dangerous thing & absolutely impossible to police. If you are weeding out Fake News, there is nothing so Fake as CNN & MSNBC, & yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed. I get used to it and watch with a grain of salt, or don’t watch at all..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
….Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen. Who is making the choices, because I can already tell you that too many mistakes are being made. Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018
(AP)