Donald Trump has insisted repeatedly that the search engine, Google, as well as social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, are censoring conservative voices on the internet. Despite the fact that Trump has repeatedly violated social media policies against targeted harassment, he wants to sign an executive order to force these companies to allow the right’s racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic rhetoric to be considered equally as valid as more mainstream news organizations.
Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018
….results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2018
According to Bloomberg:
‘The document instructs U.S. antitrust authorities to “thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws.” It instructs other government agencies to recommend within a month after it’s signed actions that could potentially “protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias.”
‘The document doesn’t name any specific companies. If signed, the order would represent a significant escalation of Trump’s antipathy toward Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies, whom he has publicly accused of silencing conservative voices and news sources online.’
White House drafts executive order that would instruct federal agencies to open investigations into the business practices of Google, Facebook and other social media companies https://t.co/Kbz9ZU24QM
— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) September 22, 2018
Even right-wing organizations are struggling with Trump’s proposal. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press, which are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, is sacred to many Americans. The few Republicans who have a shred of decency and remember their “constitutional purist” days, organizations like FreedomWorks and the American Legislative Exchange Council, sent a letter to Jeff Sessions in protest of Trump’s planned executive order.
‘Because of their critical role in American society, it is essential that American citizens are protected from anticompetitive acts by dominant online platforms…through the exercise of bias.’
https://twitter.com/Jim_Edwards/status/1043451723749224448
Despite the fact that conservatives hold a majority of gubernatorial seats, Congress, and the White House, they’re still playing the victim, and will gladly tear up the Constitution to make their point.
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
