Trump claims social media 'discriminating' against right-wing voices
President claims online platforms are 'closing down the opinions' of Republicans and conservatives
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Donald Trump denounced the treatment of Republicans and conservatives by social media companies, claiming right-wing voices were being censored.
The US president’s Twitter rant about censorship also featured another assault on the mainstream media, but he insisted he would not dare “remove” outlets like CNN and MSNBC.
The flurry of tweets began shortly after 7am on Saturday.
“Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices,” he stated.
“They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others.”
Mr Trump then added: “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.”
Mr Trump has previously threatened news outlets by stating that “licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked”.
Following an October 2017 NBC News story not to his liking, the president said: “At what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!”
His latest tweets follow controversy over the handling of the notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, host of Infowars, by major US media platforms.
Facebook, YouTube, Apple and Spotify all pulled Infowars content from their platforms earlier this month. A lawsuit was launched by the parents of Sandy Hook school shooting victims after Mr Jones claimed the attack was hoax.
But Twitter only suspended Mr Jones’ account for one week for a violation of platform rules.
Mr Trump ended his tirade about censorship with a plea to allow “everybody” to have their say online.
“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!”
Almost 350 of US newspapers co-ordinated their editorials on Thursday, condemning Mr Trump for his repeated attacks on the media and his description of journalists as “enemies of the people”.
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