Trump Admin Sets Up Page to Let People Report Political Bias from Social Media Platforms
The Trump administration has set up a site to let people report on social media platforms that they believe have taken action against them for political reasons.
It’s an issue that President Donald Trump has publicly talked about before, particularly in the wake of multiple recent social media bans and suspensions:
I am continuing to monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms. This is the United States of America — and we have what’s known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH! We are monitoring and watching, closely!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2019
The wonderful Diamond and Silk have been treated so horribly by Facebook. They work so hard and what has been done to them is very sad – and we’re looking into. It’s getting worse and worse for Conservatives on social media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2019
So surprised to see Conservative thinkers like James Woods banned from Twitter, and Paul Watson banned from Facebook! https://t.co/eHX3Z5CMXb
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2019
Trump recently met with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and, per reporting at the time, “a significant portion of the meeting focused on Trump’s concerns that Twitter quietly, and deliberately, has limited or removed some of his followers… Trump said he had heard from fellow conservatives who had lost followers for unclear reasons as well.”
And now the White House has set up a page that allows people to report, as they tweeted, on “if you suspect political bias has caused you to be censored or silenced online.”
The Trump Administration is fighting for free speech online.
No matter your views, if you suspect political bias has caused you to be censored or silenced online, we want to hear about it! https://t.co/9lc0cqUhuf pic.twitter.com/J8ICbx42dz
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 15, 2019
The website reads, “SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS should advance FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Yet too many Americans have seen their accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear ‘violations’ of user policies.”
The survey on the page invites people to say which platforms took actions against people’s accounts, and lets people upload screenshots of the notifications they received.
[image via screengrab]
