In a world where North Korea still has a potent nuclear arsenal, large swaths of minority communities in the U.S. and elsewhere face persecution, and people continue to die preventable deaths from an array of causes, Donald Trump and his cronies have taken up a new issue as supremely important to them — social media. According to the president — and his son, Donald Jr., among others — social media icons are thwarting the ability of conservative voices to get their message out and revealing bias in the process.
Trump Jr. tweeted a message along these lines on Thursday, facing the familiar wrath of fed-up Twitter users in the process. His post came after he spoke to Axios about the possibility of a conservative alternative to Facebook, which would accompany sites that are already in existence, like the controversial “Gab,” marketed as a Twitter alternative.
Asked about the possibility of his father’s re-election campaign launching such a platform, Trump Jr. told Axios:
”I’d love to do it. But what I would prefer is, take one of the two Silicon Valley conservatives and let them start it. And then I’d help promote the platform and be all over that.’
On Twitter he added:
‘Heck, I’d even support an unbiased version of any of them. I’m not looking for an echo chamber, I’m just looking for a level playing field. No more bias! No more BS!’
Heck, I’d even support an unbiased version of any of them. I’m not looking for an echo chamber, I’m just looking for a level playing field. No more bias! No more BS! https://t.co/JvriY8RhQt
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 30, 2018
It’s not clear what exact evidence he might have in mind here for his claims of “bias” and “BS.”
Recently, in a high profile development, a number of platforms across the web kicked off conservative agitator Alex Jones, who’s taken to antics like suggesting he’s open to shooting Special Counsel for the Russia investigation Robert Mueller — who, in Jones’ world, is a pedophile.
That’s hardly something that vast majorities of people would recognize as just “free speech” though. There are rules in place governing what can and can’t be said — it wasn’t that long ago, for instance, that authorities announced a manhunt for Shawn Cristy, who’d announced plans to shoot President Trump. That’s serious — as is suggesting that a high ranking justice official like Robert Mueller is worthy of being used for target practice.
Outside of the Jones case, though, conservatives have repeatedly raised the issue of the supposed censorship they’re facing across various social media platforms. Earlier this year, in the face of a brief technical mishap involving their Facebook page, the pair of conservative commentators known as Diamond and Silk claimed their supposed plight as evidence of a vast conspiracy against right wingers using social media.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg countered, however, that:
‘There is absolutely no directive in any of the changes that we make to have a bias in anything that we do. To the contrary, our goal is to be a platform for all ideas.’
That hasn’t stopped Republicans from claiming otherwise.
#StopTheBias pic.twitter.com/xqz599iQZw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018
Just this week, President Trump himself tweeted a claim that Google had failed to promote his 2018 State of the Union address despite the fact that they’d promoted every one of Barack Obama’s. The company did, though, promote his 2018 address with a message on their homepage in the same manner they’d advertised Obama’s speeches.
Trump was wrong — and by extension so are the implications of his son’s remarks.
Twitter reminds him of that below.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
