Trump Accuses Twitter of Political Bias

October 27, 2018 Focus Washington Politics

President Donald Trump accused Twitter Inc. of targeting his followers for removal from the social media platform, amid complaints by conservatives that social media companies have been discriminating against right-wing voices, Bloomberg informed.

“Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join – they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all,” Trump said in a tweet Friday. “A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?”

Twitter’s corporate communications staff responded to Trump with a message suggesting that followers were deleted as part of an effort to remove fake, abusive and malicious accounts.

“Our focus is on the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts to prevent malicious behavior,” the company said in a tweet. “Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people.”

Trump and some other Republicans have complained that Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Twitter have censored or suppressed conservative voices. Democrats have called that a diversion from concern over Russia’s use of social-media platforms to influence the 2016 presidential election and over the proliferation of offensive content.

In his opening remarks during a meeting with state attorneys general in September, Attorney General Jeff Sessions raised concerns that social media companies have a political agenda and have the power to manipulate public opinion, according to Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh.