Being Banned From Social Media Is Not Stifling Free Speech
After the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time yesterday, social media was awash with media outlets reporting the news and with pundits and regular folk tossing in their two cents in response.
One voice in particular was especially silent, however: President Trump himself.
The Commander in Tweet was banned from Twitter last week, as well as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and just about every other mainstream social media platform out there. This across-the-board banning came in response to the very actions that led to his second impeachment, the incitement of a mob of supporters to attack the Capitol on January 6th.
Many critics of the move to remove the president from social media have cited the First Amendment in their arguments, saying that these platforms have impinged on Trump’s right to free speech.
Much like with almost every political issue that arises these days, people are woefully misinformed or are simply acting in bad faith.
While the First Amendment does indeed say that free speech is to be protected, it is not in the way that most people who screech about it think. It directly states, “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
At last check, Twitter was not a government entity under control of Congressional powers, nor is any other form of social media. These are all private companies that have made their own decisions as to whether to allow a citizen that they deem to be detrimental and possibly dangerous to use their services.
It’s like walking into a convenience store in just gym shorts and them kicking you out because of their “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” policy. Everyone agrees to terms and conditions and nobody is above reproach if the company sees fit to remove them for violations.
This says nothing of the fact that the official POTUS account is still available on Twitter for the president to convey information, as is the White House Press Room, quite possibly the most watched and televised room in the world. Add to that every single publication in the world that has a heartbeat and telephone near someone working there that would immediately publish comments made by the president.
Trump in the past has even called into one the largest news networks in the world, Fox News, and essentially rambled on for an hour about a wide range of topics on live TV while the anchors are essentially held captive by his incessant caterwauling about how mean people are to him.
One avenue of communicating has been removed from Donald Trump as a private citizen because he has proven to be a dangerous influence on his death-cult followers, as exemplified by last week’s attack following his speech to a crowd where he said that they should march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
Now, the tough guy who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, for only six more days that is, remains silent as his preferred method of misinformation spreading has been taken away from him.
It so beautifully captures the very essence of this administration and the legacy that it will leave. The ability to spew falsehoods and propaganda without immediate public pushback now taken away, they would rather keep quiet than say anything that might not be reported without caveats or fact checks.
A fitting end to the Twitter president’s time in office: devoid of his social media voice by his own decision, leaving others to once again do his dirty work and rail against perceived wrongs of their own doing, finally having to face reality as he is shoved out the back door of history.
