Trump social media ‘censorship’ claim is fake but widely believed

WASHINGTON: There is little evidence to back up Donald Trump’s persistent claim that social media firms “silence” or “censor” conservatives, but the notion has nonetheless gathered widespread acceptance among his considerable following.

The US president returned to the topic on Friday with a tweet saying: “Social Media Giants are silencing millions of people... People have to figure out what is real, and what is not, without censorship!”

The comments marked the second time in a week Trump has attacked tech platforms over alleged political bias.Days earlier, he tweeted that “Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/ Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen.”

Both Twitter and Facebook deny bias in policing their platforms, and various studies suggest conservatives are thriving on social media.Still, a Pew Research Center survey released in June found 43 percent of Americans think major technology firms support the views of liberals over conservatives, and 72 percent accepted the idea that social media platforms actively censor opposing political views.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, a whopping 85 percent said they think social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints, Pew found.

The blocking of Alex Jones, who operates the conspiracy theory site Infowars, has given ammunition to those claiming motivations behind bans.And on Friday, a US House committee announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and other tech executives will appear before a panel on September 5.

Dorsey acknowledged in a recent CNN interview that the company’s bias “is more left-leaning” but that this is not reflected on the platform.“The real question behind the question is, are we doing something according to political ideology or viewpoints? And we are not. Period,” Dorsey said.

According to Angelo Carusone, president of the left-leaning media watchdog group Media Matters for America, conservatives are railing at social media firms “to game the refs,” and put more pressure on the platforms.

Carusone said this strategy worked in 2016 when Facebook “essentially fell for a fake news story” after claims of bias against conservatives and eliminated its “trending topics” section. Social media firms are to blame in part, because “in an attempt to mollify their right wing critics they have reinforced and validated the critiques even though they are baseless,” he said.