US President Donald Trump says he would not hesitate to regulate or close down social media platforms found silencing conservative voices.
He stated this in a series of tweets on Wednesday following allegations of left-wing bias against some of the social media giants.
Trump on Tuesday accused Twitter of seeking to “interfere” in the 2020 Presidential Election by silencing conservative voices under the guise of a supposedly neutral “fact-checking” policy.
The accusation came after the social media platform labelled his legitimate concerns about voter fraud as fake statements that needed to be fact-checked.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Trump wrote: “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mailboxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!!”
Within hours, Twitter slapped a new “misleading” warning label on the tweets, which when clicked brings readers to a paragraph reading in part: “Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud. … Fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud.”
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Experts say Trump’s concerns about Mail-In Balloting were legitimate.
The Herald had reported how leading conservative commentator and activist, Candace Owens threatened to sue Facebook over alleged efforts to suppress her voice to favour right-wing ideals.
Responding, the president said he would not watch idly and allow the social media platforms mislead voters.
He 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 happen again.
“Just like 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!!!!”