Twitter's recent fact-check labels on tweets posted by Donald Trump played right into the president's hands, as he has been waging war against much of the media ever since he started to run for top US office for the first time, analysts told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th May, 2020) Twitter's recent fact-check labels on tweets posted by Donald Trump played right into the president's hands, as he has been waging war against much of the media ever since he started to run for top US office for the first time, analysts told Sputnik.
Less than six months from the US presidential election scheduled this November, tensions between the US leader and the social media giant are running higher than ever. Earlier this week, Twitter for the first time flagged two of the president's tweets on mail-in ballots for containing misleading information. The move prompted Trump, who has more than 80 million followers on Twitter, to lash out at the social media platform, accusing it of "interfering" in the 2020 election and curbing free speech.
Responding to the accusations, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey later clarified that the platform flagged Trump's comments as they may convince the US citizens that they do not need to register to vote.
On Friday morning, Trump's other tweet warning that soldiers may open fire in case of looting in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was also flagged by Twitter for breaching rules on glorifying violence, as protests continue to rage on over the death of an African-American man in police custody.
"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!," Trump wrote on Twitter.
His tweet was later hidden and flagged by the platform for violating the terms of service. Now, it is now only available to see if a user explicitly clicks to view it.
'WARRING AGAINST MUCH OF MEDIA'
While questions arise whether the recent confrontation between Trump and his favored social media platform would affect his presidential ambitions, Roderick Kiewiet, Professor of Political Science at the California Institute of Technology believes that the spat will not harm Trump's presidential campaign. Even more so, it can become an advantage for the president, according to the expert.
"It played right into Trump's hands, who has been warring against much of the media since he decided to run for President. Trump's claim is that they are strongly biased against him, and this example certainly indicates they are," he told Sputnik.
Likewise, Paul Frymer, Professor at the Department of politics at Princeton University, does not believe that the recent spat will have any impact on Trump's presidential campaign or affect his chances for re-election
"This seems more like one of his regular stunts, and whether they come from sincere rage on his part, or is just an effort to change the agenda away from the 100,000 deaths [in the US] due to COVID-19, I do not know," he told Sputnik.
The United States remains the country with the highest coronavirus death toll (over 102,000) and the largest number of confirmed cases (nearly 1,750,000).
Frymer recalled that Twitter and the US president locked horns on numerous occasions.
"They tend to be more bluster than bite; they also tend to blur together, and no one confrontation seems to have much impact on his political career, or at least his public approval ratings which stay pretty constant," the expert said.
On Thursday, the president took his row with Twitter to a new level by signing an executive order that could place serious curbs on social media networks' ability to police online content. Trump stated that the government would work to enact legislation that would alter or repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides online platforms protection from civil liabilities for removing harmful or illegal content.
Twitter and Facebook both slammed Trump's executive order, saying that it could threaten the future of online speech and place users at risk of viewing harmful content.
"This EO is a reactionary and politicized approach to a landmark law. #Section230 protects American innovation and freedom of expression, and it's underpinned by democratic values. Attempts to unilaterally erode it threaten the future of online speech and internet freedoms," Twitter said in an official statement.
According to Kiewiet, the whole situation - putting a "fact-check" on Trump's tweet - was not wise on the part of the social media platform.
"Twitter gets legal immunity due to its status as a carrier of news and not a producer/publisher of news. So Twitter did something here they really aren't supposed to do," he said.
Frymer believes that the social media platform likely needs some regulation given the criticism it came upon in recent years. The social media giant has been repeatedly accused of connivance toward fake accounts, abuse and misinformation.
"There is lots of biased information on Twitter, lots of false information. Typically, our free speech laws allow at least some of that. Twitter participates in its broadcast of such information, so it is responsible in certain ways," he concluded.
