Trump threatens to close social media platforms following Twitter spat

There have long been complaints from the right that online platforms censor conservative opinions because of a liberal bias. Now after being fact-checked by Twitter, Donald Trump has threatened to close down social media platforms.

In the last 24 hours, Twitter added a "Get the facts" link to a false claim made in a tweet by the president about mail-in votes. Clearly incensed, Trump tweeted that "we will strongly regulate, or close them down".

See also:

• Trump accuses Twitter of 2020 election interference after the platform fact-checks his false tweets
• Twitter slaps 'manipulated media' label on deceptively edited video of Biden retweeted by Trump
• Twitter gives some users the ability to edit tweets... sort of

The president made reference to the 2016 presidential election, saying: "We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can't let a more sophisticated version of that happen again".

In his tweets, Trump makes the unsubstantiated claim that social media platforms "totally silence conservatives voices", making reference to the mail-in ballots tweets which caused Twitter to fact-check him earlier:

The "Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!" is a clear swipe at Twitter, after the company apparently struck a nerve and riled the president -- not that this has done much to slow down his use of Twitter today.

Image credit: Anton Khodakovskiy / Shutterstock