Yesterday, Twitter took it upon themselves to fact-check some of Donald Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots:
Critics of Twitter’s move were skeptical that they’d apply the same standards to everyone. After all, Twitter’s powers that be don’t seem to have a problem with Democratic politicians making unsubstantiated claims. Or Chinese government officials.
And then of course there’s the fact that Twitter’s Head of Site Integrity appears to have a major problem with Trump.
Well anyway, it should come as no surprise that Trump is pissed about Twitter’s move:
.@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election. They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
….Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
This morning, Trump tweeted out his plan for dealing with Twitter:
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. We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
….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
Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
Regulation or shutting down of social media platforms is decidedly … unconservative. A better solution might be for Trump to lead by example and get off of Twitter.
That said, however, if Trump indeed does decide to come after Twitter with the force of the government behind him, well, Twitter will need to do a little bit of introspection.
Twitter has nobody but itself to blame for this https://t.co/IIw6MKlXqP
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) May 27, 2020
Me sitting back observing the mess twitter has created for itself with their fact-checking pic.twitter.com/jVkYttxmIF
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 27, 2020
Everything Trump says is true unless Twitter specifically says otherwise. Their rules.
— China is lying (@jtLOL) May 27, 2020
In all likelihood, Twitter will continue to do what Twitter does. But if they start complaining about being targeted by Trump, they shouldn’t expect too much sympathy.
