Trump Says ‘Radical Left’ Has ‘Total Command’ of Facebook, Twitter, Google
President Trump suggested on Saturday that Twitter, Google, Facebook, and Facebook-owned Instagram are under the “total command” of “The Radical Left” — and hinted the tech giants could soon face repercussions.
The president tweeted on Saturday morning that his administration is “working to remedy this illegal situation” and told his followers to “stay tuned.” President Trump’s tweet comes a day after it was reported Google could soon face antitrust lawsuits from both the Justice Department and a number of states attorneys general over the company’s dominance of online advertising.
In the same tweet, Trump also shared a clip of conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, saying she is concerned a number of her peers have been “stripped of their platforms, and their reputations and their voices” by major social media companies over their political leanings. The clip was deleted soon after Trump shared it.
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The account that initially shared it, @af_clips, then reposted the video and said Twitter had taken the first version down. A Twitter rep, when asked by TheWrap why the video was taken down, said the company had not taken any action against the initial clip shared by Trump.
The Radical Left is in total command & control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google. The Administration is working to remedy this illegal situation. Stay tuned, and send names & events. Thank you Michelle! https://t.co/ZQfcfD3Hk9
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2020
Saturday marked the latest round in President Trump’s ongoing feud with Silicon Valley. Last year, the White House launched an online tool allowing citizens to report “political bias” on social media.
“Social media platforms should advance Free speech. Yet too many Americans have seen their accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear ‘violations’ of user policies,” reads the tool’s welcome message. “No matter your views, if you suspect political bias caused such an action to be taken against you, share your story with President Trump.”
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While many on the right have skewered companies like Facebook and Twitter for cracking down on conservative voices in recent years, liberals have had other complaints. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for instance, has compared the current tech landscape to a modern-day Gilded Age, where smaller companies are unable to compete with the big players. Warren, during her campaign to become the 2020 Democratic nominee, proposed breaking up Facebook, Amazon and Google, saying “we need to stop this generation of big tech companies from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential competitor.”
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