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Trump threatens to shut down Social Media Companies

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Trump threatens to shut down social media companies

By Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent
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President Trump has taken the extraordinary step of threatening to close down social media platforms.

The threat came after Twitter added fact-check links to his tweets for the first time.

The battle between the president and the social-media companies has been brewing for a time.

But now it feels as though an all-out war is looming between Donald Trump and Twitter ahead of the US presidential election, in November.

Last night, a couple of Trump tweets raging about "fraudulent" postal ballots in US elections featured - for some users but not all - a strapline linking to what Twitter called "facts about mail-in ballots."

This then led to a page debunking the president's claims but featuring articles from two organisations he regards as his sworn enemies, CNN and the Washington Post.

It took him no time to fight back, tweeting : "Twitter is completely stifling free speech, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen."

Then, on Wednesday morning, the president woke up and raised the temperature even further with this two-part tweet :
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"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... happen again - just like we can't let largescale 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."
Conspiracy theories


So does he mean any of this?

It is very hard to see Congress passing laws to strongly regulate or close down social-media platforms.

The president refers to free speech.

But as a private company, Twitter is free to police its platform as it sees fit.

Nevertheless, for Twitter's chief executive, Jack Dorsey, this is undoubtedly just the start of a clash that will continue right up until the November election.

In recent days, he has been under huge pressure to do something about President Trump's tweets.

Now, he has acted but not in a way that might have been expected.

There has been a furore over the way the president has used Twitter seemingly to endorse a baseless conspiracy theory about one of his critics, the TV presenter and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough.
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Image captionTwitter chief Jack Dorsey has resisted pressure to delete some of President Trump's previous tweets
President Trump has repeatedly suggested the death in an accident, in 2001, of one of the Congressman's aides, Lori Klausutis, is a "cold case" that deserves to be reopened by the police.

And that led the widower of Ms Klausutis to write to Jack Dorsey, pleading with him to remove the president's tweets because of the pain they were causing her family.

So far, Mr Dorsey has refused, apparently convinced the president's Twitter feed has protected status because it is part of the public record.
Nor was there any attempt to correct the inaccuracies in the tweets.

Adding a fact-check to the tweets about mail-in ballots appears to fit in with a new Twitter policy on protecting elections .

It warns users they may not post or share content that may interfere in elections or might suppress participation.

Last night, another baseless conspiracy theory - this time about a made-up crime involving Donald Trump in 2000 - was posted by an account called TheTweetofGod.

It too has neither been removed nor fact-checked, perhaps because Twitter realises it would be accused of inconsistency.

The president's Facebook page also features his diatribes about mail-in ballots and Joe Scarborough, with no sign of any fact-checking or limits on sharing such material.

But that's not to suggest it will escape his ire.

Last week, the president tweeted : "The radical left is in total command and control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google."

And he intended to "remedy this illegal situation".

There have since been reports the White House might set up a special commission to investigate the claim.

Whatever the social-media companies do about their most famous and controversial user is bound to cause anger on one side or another.

They can look forward to a long hot summer
 
Twitter is full of irrelevant asswipes who think they wield some kind of power F them and facefuck karens .:flipoff2:
 
I kinda wish he would just shut down all social media if he could. I'm real close to getting rid of facebook and instagram ( the only 2 social media sites I visit, unless you count forums as social media)
 
they already have laws something something you can't discriminate based on religion or sexual confusion or something something.

he isn't talking about trying to get congress to pass a law on it, he would use the ATF/DOJ/SOUP to file lawsuits against them so that they come in to compliance with existing laws.

it's all fluff, i guess the 100k number of 'rona deaths being well delayed from "reasonable expert predictions" didn't generate enough news for them, needed something else. Trump twitter? low hanging fruit.
 
I kinda wish he would just shut down all social media if he could. I'm real close to getting rid of facebook and instagram ( the only 2 social media sites I visit, unless you count forums as social media)

I deleted FB after I was band for an opinion. I then decided to join IG.... That will teach them. :laughing: Fuck , wouldn't you know it. FB owns that too. :homer: I since rejoined FB and only friended immediate family reduced what I follow. I'm keeping it that way. Mucho better.
 
It's a private company. Nobody forces Trump to use it.
 
It's a private company. Nobody forces Trump to use it.

💟

it would be more excellent if trump would use this to say "i am going elsewhere, this is their right to discriminate as a private company and i'm going to dismantle the federal enforcement side of these bullshit laws"
 
It's a private company. Nobody forces Trump to use it.

Only problem is they are trying to claim they are just a platform and deserve protection from suit(209???). By their 'editorialization'(ie inaccurate fact check), they are no longer a platform but a publisher(ie newspaper, magazine) and deserve to loose that protection.
 
Just wondering, think Trump is willing to start another social media site? One that would be friendly to conservative views? If nothing else it would certainly have the left up in arms and then they would start using the same arguments that are being used against them (but they would never acknowledge that).
 
The Article I read said "Trump to Sign Executive Order on Social Media on Thursday, WH Says"
Huh How does a building talk

Opening paragraphs
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on social media companies on Thursday, White House officials said after Trump threatened to shut down websites he accused of stifling conservative voices.

The officials gave no further details. It was unclear how Trump could follow through on the threat of shutting down privately owned companies including Twitter Inc. The company declined comment.


Aha The standard unknown officials "Say" Which means it is proabaly totally BS ! :lmao:

https://www.newsmax.com/us/trump/20...=DM116534_05272020&s=acs&dkt_nbr=0101045wco2q
 
It was unclear how Trump could follow through on the threat of shutting down privately owned companies including Twitter Inc. The company declined comment.

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

we are *LITERALLY* in a period of time where the government is arresting, fining, and revoking licenses from private business in nearly every state in this country.

I cannot laugh at that comment enough.

"well, scoff, the absurdity, har har, of the government telling a private business, sniff, what to do?!?! I never!"

nah bitch, you been telling us for MONTHS now how the government must shut us down and we must report our neighbors
 
I kinda wish he would just shut down all social media if he could. I'm real close to getting rid of facebook and instagram ( the only 2 social media sites I visit, unless you count forums as social media)

One hundted fucking percent. Its poison. It destroys mental health.
 
It's a private company. Nobody forces Trump to use it.

Twitter uses public infrastructure to run its business, therefore they are obligated to provide a platform for Free Speech for every single US citizen.

That is secondary to the issue of the Big Media companies being the default Free Speech platform and you should demand that they allow every single US Citizen to say whatever the fuck they can legally say in RL on there.

Everything but Fire! in a theater and threatening violence.

That means n-word, no de-platforming Conservatives, exterminate the Jews.... anything.

The fact that you don't argue for this makes you as much a hypocrite as the ACLU not defending the very civil Liberty of firearms ownership makes them a clutch of hypocrites.
 
One hundted fucking percent. Its poison. It destroys mental health.

I honestly don't think humans were intended to communicate with this many people.

I can't tell if I was born fifty years too eary, or fifty years too late.
 
Only problem is they are trying to claim they are just a platform and deserve protection from suit(209???). By their 'editorialization'(ie inaccurate fact check), they are no longer a platform but a publisher(ie newspaper, magazine) and deserve to loose that protection.


The "publisher vs platform" argument is a very valid one we need to have. Tech companies cannot edit their content and still claim immunity from the consequences of that content.

But at the same time, Trump talking about regulating these companies or shutting them down is immensely dumb and dangerous. Imagine if Obama was saying this... I don't care if Twitter hires AOC as their new fact-checker, or decide to ban every single conservative. They have every right to do so. And we have every right to take our business elsewhere.

As I said in the other thread, if people want Trump to succeed, his voters need to DEMAND that he exercises some self control. This crap is not helping.
 
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I honestly don't think humans were intended to communicate with this many people.

I can't tell if I was born fifty years too eary, or fifty years too late.

The real problem is that you were born at all. 😁
 
The "publisher vs platform" argument is a very valid one we need to have. Tech companies cannot edit their content and still claim immunity from the consequences of that content.

But at the same time, Trump talking about regulating these companies or shutting them down is immensely dumb and dangerous. Imagine if Obama was saying this... I don't care if Twitter hires AOC as their new fact-checker, or decide to ban every single conservative. They have every right to do so. And we have every right to take our business elsewhere.

As I said in the other thread, if people want Trump to succeed, his voters need to DEMAND that he exercises some self control. This crap is not helping.

And could you imagine the backlash had Twitter put a fact check label on Obama’s Twitter?

if the twitter account was “office of the president” there would be more of an argument about things both ways
 
The "publisher vs platform" argument is a very valid one we need to have. Tech companies cannot edit their content and still claim immunity from the consequences of that content.

But at the same time, Trump talking about regulating these companies or shutting them down is immensely dumb and dangerous. Imagine if Obama was saying this... I don't care if Twitter hires AOC as their new fact-checker, or decide to ban every single conservative. They have every right to do so. And we have every right to take our business elsewhere.

As I said in the other thread, if people want Trump to succeed, his voters need to DEMAND that he exercises some self control. This crap is not helping.

I agree 100%. Once again Trump is acting like a "spoiled little rich kid". He's not a dictator.
 
Honestly it seems that the Left has control of just about every social media platform. Just the way it is. There's pockets of us here and there, but for the most part anything online is theirs. They live in an alternate reality of "likes" and "subs". They excel in a realm that is moderated and censored to their liking. I'm fine with it, because when reality comes along and smacks the shit out of them, us living in the real world know how to deal with it.
 
The "publisher vs platform" argument is a very valid one we need to have. Tech companies cannot edit their content and still claim immunity from the consequences of that content.

But at the same time, Trump talking about regulating these companies or shutting them down is immensely dumb and dangerous. Imagine if Obama was saying this... I don't care if Twitter hires AOC as their new fact-checker, or decide to ban every single conservative. They have every right to do so. And we have every right to take our business elsewhere.

As I said in the other thread, if people want Trump to succeed, his voters need to DEMAND that he exercises some self control. This crap is not helping.

I agree 100%. Once again Trump is acting like a "spoiled little rich kid". He's not a dictator.

No you guys have both fallen for the 'publisher or platform' argument, and I know you got it from Rogaine.

That's not the argument, and that's why Dorsey brought his little browngirl lawyer to Rogaine to make sure Rogaine and Timmy Pool minded their Ps and Qs.

The questions are:

Do social media companies use public infrastructure to run their business?

The answer is yes. This obligates SM companies to publish free speech from American Citizens due to the Communications Act of 1933 and the Telecommunications Act of, I think, 1997.

Are social media companies the default dialog platform in America?

Yes, they are, and like books or pamphlets, every American Citizen has a Right to publish. In the age of books, this meant each voice wasn't broadcast. IN the age of the Internet, this means that each citizen potentially reaches everyone. But, that isn't relevant because governments and businesses also have their voice amplified.


It is a REQUIREMENT of Social Media companies to not ban (mostly conservative) people from their platform, and they have an obligation to every Citizen of the US.

Do not fall for the Platform vs Publisher argument, it's bullshit.
 
I agree 100%. Once again Trump is acting like a "spoiled little rich kid". He's not a dictator.

Well , maybe just the propaganda minister Goebbels....Trump does some correct moves but can't stand any opinion but his own...If it was a liberal threatening censorship you all would be frothing at the mouth...
 
Well , maybe just the propaganda minister Goebbels....Trump does some correct moves but can't stand any opinion but his own...If it was a liberal threatening censorship you all would be frothing at the mouth...

The problem is that SM companies have been on a campaign of de-platforming conservative voices, so you are making a false equivalency.
 
The "publisher vs platform" argument is a very valid one we need to have. Tech companies cannot edit their content and still claim immunity from the consequences of that content.

But at the same time, Trump talking about regulating these companies or shutting them down is immensely dumb and dangerous. Imagine if Obama was saying this... I don't care if Twitter hires AOC as their new fact-checker, or decide to ban every single conservative. They have every right to do so. And we have every right to take our business elsewhere.

As I said in the other thread, if people want Trump to succeed, his voters need to DEMAND that he exercises some self control. This crap is not helping.

I can't see shutting them down working. But is not pulling their immunity of platform considered regulating them? I see a lot of potential of this hurting those companies.

I agree they have every right to fact check till they are blue in the face... but at that point, I don't feel they fall under the definition of a platform and should not have any protections of a platform.

On the topic of 'President Trump shut up', I don't care for some of his actions. But I don't think his rhetoric is going to hurt him as much as you think. I'm sure more of his supporters support his view point of tech companies hurting free speech especially if it is right of center. I'm also sure that there will be many again who will vote for him over whoever the Dems put up(Joe or whoever else they screw Sanders with) I think we are going to see another case of the silent voter happen this election.
 
Well , maybe just the propaganda minister Goebbels....Trump does some correct moves but can't stand any opinion but his own...If it was a liberal threatening censorship you all would be frothing at the mouth...

You have a fucked up way of thinking. Trump’s argument is that it is defacto censorship that he is fighting. How is it that he is “threatening censorship”?
 
I can't see shutting them down working. But is not pulling their immunity of platform considered regulating them? I see a lot of potential of this hurting those companies.

I agree they have every right to fact check till they are blue in the face... but at that point, I don't feel they fall under the definition of a platform and should not have any protections of a platform.

On the topic of 'President Trump shut up', I don't care for some of his actions. But I don't think his rhetoric is going to hurt him as much as you think. I'm sure more of his supporters support his view point of tech companies hurting free speech especially if it is right of center. I'm also sure that there will be many again who will vote for him over whoever the Dems put up(Joe or whoever else they screw Sanders with) I think we are going to see another case of the silent voter happen this election.

ANother Rogaine listener.

Look, Rogan has a business interest in not pissing off his bosses at the SM companies. His wife's family is hooked up in media too, and Rogaine is clearly cucked out to her.
 
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