Facebook, Twitter, and others have long prohibited many forms of speech, including nudity, bullying, calls for violence, and fraudulent material. government, so the First Amendment does not prevent them from setting rules of the road for their services. ![]() Tech companies, however, are not the U.S. The debate about the Trump ban has been muddied by cries of censorship. He was an olympic-level policy violator-every day brought a new violation, to the detriment of our democracy, national security, and safety. While in office, Trump violated companies’ terms of service by harassing individuals, inciting violence, and spreading harmful disinformation about public health. In our view, Trump should not be allowed back on the outlets that he routinely abused as a public official. Facebook removed the posts and placed a ban on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts until the “peaceful transition of power is complete.” It attributed its decision to Trump’s use of its platform “to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat and others followed suit.įacebook’s Oversight Board will soon consider whether the platform properly revoked Trump’s access, and if a permanent ban accords with Facebook’s commitment to “Voice” and “Safety.” Other social media outlets may soon consider the same (though Twitter appears to have made their earlier suspension permanent). In the aftermath of the riots, five lay dead, hundreds of officers were seriously injured, and our democracy was shaken to the core.Īs the mob ransacked the Capitol and lawmakers hid behind barricaded doors, Trump turned to social media, repeating the baseless election fraud claims. ![]() Congress gathered at the Capitol Building in Washington to certify the 2020 presidential election, then-President Trump spoke at a nearby rally where he called upon a thousands-strong mob to “fight like hell.” After Trump told the mob, “we’re going to the Capitol,” they did. This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.Īs the U.S.
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