Trump: It’s Dangerous for Social Media Platforms to Ban Accounts

President Trump attacked social media platforms for censoring their users in an exclusive interview with Reuters today.

“I won’t mention names but when they take certain people off of Twitter or Facebook and they’re making that decision, that is really a dangerous thing because that could be you tomorrow,” the president told Reuters.

“I think it’s a very dangerous thing when they are their own regulator in terms of who’s going to be on Facebook and who’s going to be on Twitter. I think that whether it’s conservative or liberal, I think that it’s very dangerous.”

The wide-ranging interview also covered Trump’s stand-off with Turkey over the detention of a U.S. pastor, potential new meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.

The president’s comments on social media followed two weeks of rapid-fire censorship of conservatives and dissident media voices on social media. CRTV host Gavin McInnes was kicked off Twitter last week, as the company conducted a mass purge of conservative accounts both high-profile and small. On Facebook, Prager University was hit with a sudden, 99.99 percent drop in reach that the company later claimed was an error. Meanwhile, online funding platform Patreon, facing pressure from Mastercard, suspended its services to Islam critic Robert Spencer.

The wave of censorship caused the president to criticize big tech from his Twitter account last week.

“Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen,” he wrote. “Who is making the choices, because I can already tell you that too many mistakes are being made.”

“Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen.”

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.