Trump threatens to 'close down' social media, slams platforms for trying to 'silence conservatives voices'
President Donald Trump, on May 27, threatened to shut down social media networks. This comes nearly a day after Twitter began fact-checking the contents of his tweets. Trump, in his recent tweet, hit out at social media platforms, stating that Republicans feel that these platforms silence conservative voices and that his administration would either strongly regulate or shut these platforms in the country.
"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. "We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that 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!!!!" he added in his tweet.
The Republican denounced social media outlets nearly two hours after two of his tweets claiming mail-in ballots could lead to electoral fraud were flagged by Twitter as 'potentially misleading'. The current coronavirus pandemic has led to a push for the presidential elections in November to he held through mail-in votes. Trump, however, has consistently claimed that mail-in votes would lead to widespread fraud in the polls.
Although Trump attacked all social media sites, Twitter is his preferred means of communication as he frequently uses the micro-blogging site to share his thoughts with his 80 million followers.
Trump blasted social media for censoring him just a day after Twitter refused to take down the president's tweets after a widower suggested that the Republican was claiming that his wife had been murdered without any evidence. Trump, since May 12, has sent out multiple messages claiming that television host Joe Scarborough may have killed his former employee Lori Klausutis in 2001. Scarborough is a fierce critic of the president and his administration.
Klausutis died at the age of 28 after she fell and hit her head at an office table in Florida. Her autopsy showed that she had been killed by an undiagnosed heart condition.
Trump, during a White House press conference on May 26, doubled-down on his claims, suggesting that Klausutis and Scarborough had been having an affair. He also called the woman's death "a very suspicious situation." "A lot of people suggest that. And hopefully, someday people are going to find out," the president claimed during the briefing.
Klausutis' husband, Timothy Klausutis, had written a letter to Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey, requesting him to take down President Trump's tweets about his late wife because they were not factually correct. The micro-blogging site, however, instead of taking the tweets down, responded to the letter apologizing for the "pain" caused by the president’s tweets. The social media site has consistently permitted the president to break its own anti-bullying and harassment rules, citing that it was in the "public interest" to let a global leader continue to speak freely to the voters.