MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2021) Hopes are that US citizens will not let elites use the excessive digital censorship as a tool of political competition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
Thousands of social media users in the United States had their accounts blocked across various platforms over their support of outgoing President Donald Trump or criticism of the Democratic Party. Many faced online bullying and peer pressure, as well as reported receiving threats.
"Let's hope that the US society will not allow elites to use this obvious censorship in their political fight against one another, which violates the constitution and international obligations in the grossest manner. This is an issue of the US society. If the US society fails to resolve this issue, we won't be able to do anything about it. But in that case, we should be ready � and everyone should � to face the consequences of this failure of the American state, and the consequences on the international level are going to be very serious. I think that everyone is clear about that," Lavrov said at a press conference.
US media and social media giants launched a boycott campaign against Trump after his statements on electoral fraud prompted tens of thousands of supporters to come to Washington and storm the Congress building while lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden's victory on January 6.
Twitter and Facebook, followed by several lesser known platforms, banned Trump indefinitely and suspended the accounts of his supporters. Some US television channels cut the broadcast of his statements repeatedly when the outgoing president spoke about such things as accounts of inconsistencies in the electoral process or the excess of punishment for those who attended the January 6 peaceful protests.
