World

Trump Takes On Twitter For ‘Working For The Left’

US president Donald Trump has blasted Twitter for censoring his political tweets, claiming that Twitter as an influential social media platform has become biased, and is working for the Left.

On May 26th, Twitter added a fact-check link to one of Trump’s tweets that criticizes postal voting. The company claimed that Trump had violated regulations on voter suppression.

“There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” the tweet said, “Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed” the U.S. president added.

The tweet was targeted at the Democratic Party’s suggestion for a quarantine voting system.

Donald Trump

On Friday, Twitter escalated its censorship of president Trump.

The company indicated to its users that one of Trump’s tweets had the potential to worsen Minneapolis’ protests, and trigger increased levels of violence in the wake of the George Floyd killing.

In his controversial tweet, Trump described the mayor of Minneapolis as a “weak radical Left mayor that lacks leadership,” further suggesting that he would send the National Guard to control the ongoing riots in the city.

Riots have followed the police murder of George Floyd

Trump is no stranger to controversies when it comes to social media posts, especially on Twitter and Facebook.

Many have criticized the president for the “insensitive messages” he has delivered on social media platforms, including slamming American mainstream media like CNN, ABC or MSNBC news networks.

Trump denied he’s spreading misinformation. “Twitter tries to silence conservative voices by using CNN reports to fact-check my tweets,” the president said questioning the sources used by Twitter, accusing the company of being subjected to the Left (Democrats).

The president also indicated that Twitter intends to interfere with the 2020, presidential election.

As the dispute between Trump and Twitter soared up, Facebook was also dragged into this social media war.

While many people expect Facebook to implement a fact-checking policy on Trump, the company, however, doesn’t seem to be planning any changes.

During an interview with the Fox News Channel, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, contended that social media platforms “should not be the arbiter of truth.”

Zuckerberg argued, “posts and ads from politicians are generally not subjected to fact-checking” a statement that has been seen as directed toward Facebook’s longtime rival Twitter.

On the same day Zuckerberg made the statement, American people took to retweeting the CEO’s opinions on Twitter, to bring about the recently popular “cancel” culture concept against Facebook because of its supposed submission to Trump’s authority.

The different attitudes toward the social media policy on political content can be seen quite clearly when comparing Twitter and Facebook.

While Twitter has decided to decline political ads intended for the platform, Facebook on the other hand, still accepts political commercials, saying that this will help those candidates with smaller budgets to voice their opinions.

As the general election approaches, the issue of the mainstream media’s political bias is sparking debates once again.

It is apparent that no matter which party wins the 2020, election, the news agencies have played an essential role in affecting the results.

U.S. President Donald Trump
Alan Lu

Alan is a student at National Sun-Yat Sen University majoring in foreign languages and literature. He has written about politics and gender issues, cross-strait issues, same-sex marriage and the Me Too movement

Recent Posts

Five dead, over 200 injured in Christmas market attack in Germany’s Magdeburg

A tragic attack at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg left…

14 hours ago

Trump’s debt ceiling demand set aside as US Senate passes bill to avert Govt. shutdown

In a race against time, the Senate passed a crucial bipartisan funding bill early Saturday…

2 days ago

Russian President says he regrets not invading Ukraine earlier, in his year-end press conference

In his annual end-of-year press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin reflected on Russia's ongoing war…

3 days ago

House rejects GOP proposal to avert weekend shutdown of US Federal Government

The federal government moved closer to a shutdown on Thursday after the House of Representatives…

3 days ago

Netanyahu announces Israeli troops will stay in Syria’s Demilitarized Buffer Zone

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israeli forces will remain in the…

5 days ago

Chief of Russia’s nuclear protection forces killed in Moscow bombing

A high-ranking Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, was killed in a targeted bombing…

5 days ago