Authoritarianism
Trump Threatens To ‘Close’ Down Social Media Companies After Twitter Fact-Checks False Claims
President Trump on Wednesday morning threatened to “close” down social media companies one day after Twitter fact-checked a pair of the president’s tweets on mail-in voting.
“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016.”
“We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that happen again,” he added. “Just like we can’t let large scale Mail-In Ballots take root in our Country. It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots. Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!”
….happen again. Just like we can’t let large scale Mail-In Ballots take root in our Country. It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots. Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
The president’s comments come a day after he accused Twitter of “stifling FREE SPEECH.”
The move by Twitter to fact-check the president was a first for the platform.
The platform on Tuesday placed warnings noting that the president’s claim that California would send mail-in ballots to anyone living in the state was false. Twitter, in its fact-check, also pointed out that Trump himself voted by mail in the Florida Republican presidential primary this year.
