President Trump on Saturday charged that social media is “totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices" and argued that the platforms should allow "good & bad" content online amid an ongoing debate over social media’s role in policing content online.
"Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!" he said.
“Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices,” Trump tweeted. “Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others.”
Republicans in recent months have more frequently made the claim that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are biased against them, and GOP lawmakers have held multiple congressional hearings on the subject.
Both platforms were recently scrutinized over the decision to suspend Alex Jones, a controversial right-wing host, over “hate speech.”
Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey defended the decision to The Hill this week, saying that Jones was posting content that broke the platform's terms of service and needed a "pause" to reconsider his behavior. Jones is known for spreading false theories, such as that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was staged.
But Trump, who appeared on Jones's show in 2015, on Twitter blasted "censorship" and added that he has not called for CNN and MSNBC to be “removed” despite their “fake news” broadcasts. Trump frequently blasts content critical toward his administration as “fake news,” with CNN and NBC both frequent targets.
“Censorship is a very dangerous thing & absolutely impossible to police,” he continued. “If you are weeding out Fake News, there is nothing so Fake as CNN & MSNBC, & yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed. I get used to it and watch with a grain of salt, or don’t watch at all.”
He suggested that the people "making the choices" on limiting content online cannot be trusted.
"Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen," he continued. "Who is making the choices, because I can already tell you that too many mistakes are being made. Let everybody participate, good & bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!"
Trump, who is a prolific Twitter user, previously warned that his administration would “look into” alleged “shadow banning” of conservatives on the platform.
Twitter has acknowledged that a new policy to suppress hate speech unintentionally reduced the search results for some Republican lawmakers. The company said it also impacted some Democrats.
Facebook has also defended itself against claims of what GOP leadership calls “conservative censorship” and contended with the proliferation of “fake news” — stories written to look like reported stories, including by Russians intending to influence U.S. politics — on the platform.
The company launched a review of policies possibly impacting conservative voices and other communities in May.