Idaho internet provider blocks Twitter and Facebook, says they don't have authority to censor what you see
Your T1 WIFI, an internet service provider (ISP) in North Idaho and the Spokane area, has confirmed it would be blocking social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter for its customers. The reason being – some calling in to complain about censorship on the platforms. The move will be made starting this Wednesday, reports confirmed.
This development comes after Twitter blocked President Donald Trump permanently. A message was posted shortly saying: "After a close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."
An email from the ISP reads: “It has come to our attention that Twitter and Facebook are engaged in the censorship of our customers and information. We have the past couple of days been fielding calls from customers voicing the concern that they do not want these sites allowed to be displayed on their internet feed to them and that they do not want their children to go to these sites.”
It also added that many customers reached out with requests for these sites to be blocked and that the two social media platforms will be blocked and granted access to customers only if they reach out to the company asking for it. "There are too many people that have called for us to do one [customer] at a time so we will be blocking [Facebook and Twitter] and any other website that may also be censoring," the email read.
The contents of the email highlighting the unblocking of these social media sites on request were affirmed by the owner, Brett Fink. According to KREM 2, Fink said the websites would only be blocked for "customers who asked."
"We've had customers asked to be blocked by it. That is what the email was about, so no we are not blocking anybody, only the ones that have asked for it," Fink said. A Breitbart report said the email also stated that "it didn't condone what Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and Apple are doing either to Parler by trying to strong-arm them into submission."
KREM 2 reckons this may not be in accordance with Washingtons net neutrality law which states: "A person engaged in the provision of broadband internet access service in Washington state, insofar as the person is so engaged, may not:
(a) Block lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices, subject to reasonable network management;
(b) Impair or degrade lawful internet traffic on the basis of internet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, subject to reasonable network management; or
(c) Engage in paid prioritization"