The first amendment to the US Constitution allows for the freedom of speech in America. Both Twitter and Facebook have begun to repress this. In order to have an open and free society, one must allow opinions to be stated, right or wrong. The President of the United States stated his opinion on Twitter and Facebook in a video that was posted on both platforms, and it was then censored.
Courtney Parella a spokesperson for Trump, said the President was “stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus.” “Social media companies are not the arbiters of truth”, said Parella.
The Trump campaign stands by this claim, but Facebook disagrees, and used it as an excuse to prevent American citizens using the platform from hearing what their president has to say.
This is despite repeated assurances from Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the platform will not censor politicians. Even in a speech at Georgetown University in October 2019, Zuckberg said “we think people should be able to hear what politicians have to say.” It seems policy has now changed at Facebook, which is now censoring what the President is saying.
“This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from Covid-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful Covid misinformation,” said Facebook spokesman Andy Stone in a statement attempting to justify the takedown.
Twitter quickly followed Facebook’s lead, taking down the video, which had been posted by an official Trump campaign account, shortly after Facebook took action.
Last week, Facebook censored a viral video posted by Breitbart News of an organization of medical professionals, America’s Frontline Doctors, holding a press conference on coronavirus alongside Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).
Using the Chinese virus as a justification, social media platforms have over the past few months taken unprecedented steps to censor the President, his supporters, and conservative media.
We have seen a lot of censorship on Facebook and Twitter, even personally we have seen this! This needs to stop or another company needs to step up and take the business. I also think the government agency the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) should be stepping in!