How Twitter May be Trampling Trump’s Civil Rights
A Large Overstep?
Twitter reached deep into its political bias this week. Following assertions by President Trump that voting by mail could case massive voter fraud, the company responded. Twitter placed an instant “fact check” on his Tweet, claiming otherwise. This led to a sharp and deepening political firestorm. The President and his allies fought back– seeking a means to punish the web giant.
Conservatives Often Censored?
Most definitely, the left runs and shapes social media. And this isn’t an issue that is solitary to Donald Trump. Over the years, conservative accounts complained of regular bias by Twitter. Complaints included that leftist employees refused to verify conservative leaning user accounts, which hurts the user and account holder. Most of all, it is obvious the platform applies a double standard in enforcement of its Big Brother policies.
Furthermore, users are shadowbanned– meaning their account will seem open but will remain unseen by other users. Google pioneered this white listing technique. The idea is to filter the search results of businesses and people who do not support left wing viewpoints. And there is a lot of evidence that Google employees have baked this into their algorithm with tacit approval.
From my experience watching Twitter and the conservative movement– they certainly have a point.
A Terrible Precedent?
Democrats have been pushing hard against verifying the legitimacy of votes ever since the flood of undocumented aliens allowed under the Obama Administration into the USA. The idea is to say there is no proof of voter fraud, while simultaneously refusing to pass a voter ID law to confirm if the person voting is REALLY the person voting. It all started after a tweet this week discussing voting by mail.
There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
Twitter’s leftist-leaning fact-checkers responded with an unprecedented move. It added a “fact check” to the bottom of his tweet.
According to the New York Times, these actions led Trump’s supporters to blast Twitter. There are many questions still unanswered:
- Will Twitter apply the same to all politicians? Many mainstream media “fact-checkers” tend to support one side over another– usually Democrats.
- How will this affect the 2020 election? Is Twitter stepping in to give Joe Biden a hand?
- Are Donald Trump’s rights being violated? That is more of a question for the courts– but there is one key element. If Twitter does not apply the standard equally, then he could have a strong case.
- What will be the response from lawmakers? Republicans are already pushing for more regulation of Twitter after the incident. Don’t be surprised if they get legislation through the Senate– only to have it blocked in the House.
Considering the stakes of the election, Twitter’s actions are chilling. They also set a dangerous precedent for future actions against politicians–especially Republicans. We will cover the legal and political ramifications of these actions in the coming weeks and months.