Trump Offers Anecdotal Evidence of Conservative Bias on Social Media
President Donald Trump offered anecdotal evidence of social media bias and alleged throttling of his followers and activity on Twitter. Speaking Thursday to hundreds of invitees at his Presidential Social Media Summit (see 1907100040), he cited dramatic fluctuations of follower counts and Twitter interaction. “It would be like a rocket ship when I put out a beauty,” he said, claiming nowadays it takes him 10 times as long to gain 100,000 followers.
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Trump said he will invite executives from major social media companies for a separate gathering at the White House within a month. He directed his administration Thursday to explore all regulatory and legislative ways “to protect free speech” and constitutional rights of Americans, calling for “accountability, transparency and freedom.” Trump complimented the industry, praising the “genius” of Silicon Valley, saying China recognizes American tech excellence.
Trump cited specific tweets, one in which he claimed the Obama administration had “spied” on his campaign. He also praised Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., for introducing legislation that would require social media platforms to get certified as politically neutral by altering Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (see 1906190047). Social media giants, which get special treatment from the federal government, would “love” to shut conservatives down, Hawley said. Platforms have gotten rich off user data and shouldn’t be able to discriminate against conservative viewpoints, he added.
Trump hit Google, citing alleged video footage of employees revealing political bias. The president claimed certain social media sites have “100 percent” shadow-banned his son, Donald Jr.
He said people approach him to say social media sites are making it “impossible” to follow him. Addressing social media influencers in the room, Trump said it’s not surprising some of them get scrutiny from Silicon Valley: “In all fairness, some of you, I could almost understand. I mean, some of you guys are out there, but even you should have a voice. I mean it’s genius, but it’s bad.”
The industry depends on users across the political spectrum to succeed, Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman said in a statement: “Internet companies are not biased against any political ideology, and conservative voices in particular have used social media to great effect.”
Expected attendees from the White House, administration and Congress included: Senior Adviser-Digital Strategy Dan Scavino; Senior Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway; Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham; Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan; Deputy Chief of Staff-Policy Coordination Chris Liddell; Assistant to the President-Special Initiatives Brooke Rollins; Chief Digital Officer Ory Rinat; Special Assistant-Innovation Policy and Initiatives Matt Lira; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; Interior Secretary David Bernhardt; Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; and Republican Reps. Dan Crenshaw, Texas; Liz Cheney, Wyoming; Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz, Florida; and Mike Johnson, Louisiana.
According to pool reports, among the spotted attendees were pro-Trump social media duo Diamond and Silk, singer Joy Villa, Donald Trump Jr., ex-Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk and Benny Johnson.