President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to “close” down social media companies after his unsubstantiated claims about mail-in voting fraud were fact-checked by Twitter.
On Tuesday, the president made inaccurate claims about mail-in ballots in a series of tweets, claiming—without evidence—that they would lead to mailboxes being robbed and ballots being forged, among other things.
Later in the day, Twitter slapped a “get the facts about mail-in ballots” button to the president’s tweets, directing users to a page on Twitter fact-checking the remarks.
Trump claimed that Twitter’s fact-checking of his false statements constituted election interference, adding that it was stifling his free speech.
The president then responded to himself this morning by threatening to “strongly regulate” social media companies and “close them down.”
“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen. We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that….,” Trump tweeted.
He added:
“….happen again. Just like we can’t let large scale Mail-In Ballots take root in our Country. It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots. Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!”
Trump’s claim about social media companies having a bias against conservatives is nothing new: he’s brought up the perceived issue numerous times during his presidency. More recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has thought about establishing a commission to review complaints about the perceived bias.
However, an Axios-NewsWhip analysis of stories about 2020 Democrats found that the most viral pieces of news came from conservative outlets.
Twitter has faced criticism recently for other Trump tweets including incorrect claims about Michigan’s plans to send absentee ballot applications to registered voters and promoting a debunked conspiracy that Joe Scarborugh murdered an aide who worked for him in 2001.
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