Trump And Twitter Continue Battle Over Free Speech

29 May 2020, 16:28

Trump and Twitter are at it again in a battle over Free Speech. Who get's to decide what is and is not censorship or misinformation? That depends on your personal views of government and social media platforms.

Historical Precedents

Protesters across the streets in the cities of America have been rallying against the long history of general racism and police violence. The most recent and egregious murder of George Floyd sparked outrage across the globe.

Demonstrations that have been greatly agitated by police most prominently in Minnesota, Louisville, New York City and Ohio are unfolding, with almost a dozen more cities across America.

The President of the United States vaguely threatened protesters. He said, "When the looting starts the shooting starts." There's a historical precedent for this language.

Former Miami Police Chief Walter Headley was in charge of Miami's race riots that happened in 1967. He is infamous for stop and frisk police harassment. Headley was once quoted, "We don't mind being accused of police brutality. They haven't seen anything yet." So there's that.

The White House has since doubled down on the shooting starting if the looting starts phrasing.

Present Mediums

Trump went on to characterize the protesters as "THUGS", or at least some of them. He was referring to protesters in Minneapolis.

The DOJ promised a paced investigation. Protesters had little faith and things escalated culminating in the burning down of the local police station.

Trump also tweeted that he ordered the National Guard to be deployed. This wasn't totally accurate as 500 were already being deployed by the Governor Tim Walz.

Twitter first put a fact check under Trump's tweet Thursday. The platform put a public notice over and hid another tweet Friday. Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO confirmed this to Axios via Engadget.

Trump signed an executive order to essentially allow Twitter to be viewed as a publication versus a platform.

That makes it require greater journalistic standards and not fall under the soul discretion of one individual, which Trump has also specifically highlighted.

Future Implications

Since Twitter would need higher journalistic standards as a publication or be more liable to lawsuits they'll need to expand their staff.

Trump is really towing the line with Twitter and what constitutes Free Speech. Trump maintains there is great bias against Conservatives.

The President has vowed to continue fighting what he feels is censorship of he and those who agree with his political ideologies.