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Trump threatens to 'close down' social media after his tweets tagged
On Tuesday, Twitter for the first time prompted readers to check the facts in tweets sent by US President Donald Trump, warning his claims about mail-in ballots were false and had been debunked by fact checkers.
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US President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable in the State Dining Room of the White House May 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump held a roundtable meeting with Restaurant Executives and Industry Leaders at the White House. (POOL/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFP/Doug Mills)
U
S President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to close down social media platforms after Twitter labelled two of his tweets "unsubstantiated" and accused him of making false claims.
"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," Trump tweeted.
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....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
On Tuesday, Twitter for the first time prompted readers to check the facts in tweets sent by US President Donald Trump, warning his claims about mail-in ballots were false and had been debunked by fact checkers.
In a tweet responding to the company's move, Trump accused the company of interfering in the 2020 presidential election. "Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!" he said.
The blue exclamation mark notification prompted readers to "get the facts about mail-in ballots" and directed them to a page with news articles and information about the claims aggregated by Twitter staffers.
Trump pushed back again on Wednesday saying "we can't let large scale 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!!!!"
The president also accused social media platforms of interfering in the last 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."
The president has long used Twitter as a platform to spread abuse, conspiracy theories, false information and insults to his 80 million followers.
Before being elected in 2016, he built his political brand by supporting the "birther" lie that Barack Obama, America's first black president, was not born in the United States and therefore was not eligible to be president.
And he has recently ignited another storm with an attempted character assassination of MSNBC TV host Joe Scarborough by spreading the baseless rumor he murdered an aide.
