Read on Twitter
5 people died this week because of events in which the reckless use of social media played a huge role.
3 days after the Capitol was assaulted, while “Hang Pence” is literally trending online, doesn’t seem like the time to complain about censorship.
3 days after the Capitol was assaulted, while “Hang Pence” is literally trending online, doesn’t seem like the time to complain about censorship.
I’m as concerned about censorship as anyone. An open digital public square where we are free to exchange ideas—even controversial ones—is vital to our democracy. But no one, not even the President, should be allowed to use social media to incite violence.
Yes, Twitter has been inconsistent in their application of their policies, which @jasonthacker and I point out in the piece linked below, but their decision to ban an account for inciting violence is not the same thing as policing speech based on content.
It is unimaginable to me that we are living in a time where a sitting President is locked out of his social media account. But Americans breaking down the doors to the United States Capitol Building was also unimaginable to me until Wednesday.
I think all of us should be committed to defending free speech, even on platforms not covered under the First Amendment like Facebook and Twitter. But as @DavidAFrench has said, Twitter made a tough but reasonable decision yesterday.
As wary as we may be of bad precedent and censorship, remember that their decision was made in light of the horrific events of one of the worst days in American history. https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/understanding-twitter-suspensions-and-the-need-for-consistent-policies/
