The United States President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order concerning the social media platforms following a war of words with Jack Dorsey led Twitter on Thursday.
May 27 was flagged as an unfortunate day in American history as the day saw 100,000 Americans succumbing to the fairly lethal coronavirus disease. With the country still struggling to flatten the curve in most states, rising unemployment figures, and raging war against China, Trump still chose to spend much of his bandwidth to take a jab against the social media platforms.
On Wednesday night, Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany stirred up the social media platforms by announcing to the reporters traveling onboard the president’s official carrier – Air Force One. She said that the president is about to sign an executive order aimed at social networking sites; however, she didn’t divulge more details.
The decision comes following a row with Twitter for allegedly suppressing GOP voices and interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election when Twitter provoked Trump by asking him to fact-check his claim. He was further infuriated when the social media platform used seemingly fake sources to dispute his claim’s validity.
It all started on Tuesday when Trump used the social media platforms to lash out at mail-in ballots. Per him, mailboxes are most prone to theft and manipulation as there is no way to stop polls from getting signed or authorized wrongfully. Fake mail-in ballots will rig this year’s elections, he added.
However, Twitter then responded to his tweet by stating that his accusations are baseless and that mail-in ballots have been rarely associated with manipulation. And this is precisely what enraged Trump and provoked him to take a harsh stance against social media platforms.
How far will the row with Twitter go?
According to him, Twitter is challenging his claim on mail-in ballots, the primary source of fraud and corruption as per the president, by verifying it with ‘sham media outlets’ like CNN and Amazon Washington Post.
He further argued that today’s social media platforms are suppressing free speech and discouraging conservatives from voicing their opinions, thus meddling in his presidential campaign for this year. He then threatened that he would choose to take matters in his own hands by either governing them or altogether banning them.
“Much like we cannot let these fraudulent mail-in ballots run the country’s most significant event, we would not let social media platforms wrongfully sway people’s opinions. They were unsuccessful in their attempts back in 2016, and I would not allow these platforms to take control this year, too,”
Trump asserted.
Featured Image by Flickr
