Twitters decision to fact-check President Donald Trump on Tuesday around misleading statements about voting by mail has been followed by an unprecedented escalation of Trumps war on social media.
In just a few days, the presidents administration has singled out an individual Twitter employee in apparent retaliation, issued a largely unenforceable executive order that attempts to undo fundamental rules of the internet, and tweeted when the looting starts, the shooting starts in response to protests of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A few hours after that tweet, Twitter added a disclaimer on it, saying it violated the platforms rules for glorifying violence.
In labeling Trumps tweets, Twitter has incrementally but meaningfully taken a stand in enforcing its policies on misleading and violent speech, even when the person tweeting is a world leader. In doing so, Twitter has opened a Pandoras box that means it will be under incredible opposing pressure in the coming months about when and whether it should make or not make more of these calls.
But Twitters tech peers most notably Facebook have taken a different approach. Despite having very similar policies around content moderation as Twitter, Facebook hasnt applied any of its standard fact-checking labels to Trumps posts, and it doesnt plan to. In fact, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs immediate response to Twitters decision to fact-check was to imply that it was the wrong call. Zuckerberg appeared on Fox News on Thursday the Trump administrations favorite outlet to declare, as he has for years, that Facebook is not in the business of being an arbiter of truth.
Nevermind that Facebook has specific policies to arbitrate speech on plenty of thorny topics: nudity, violence, and, notably, voter misinformation (which is exactly what Twitter first marked up Trump for). On Fox host Dana Perinos show, Zuckerberg was reiterating his long-standing defense that Facebook is merely a platform for expression, not a media company, and that it should stay away from making decisions that pass judgment on political speech, which he believes should be up to outside parties to litigate.
It also served to position Silicon Valley tech companies, some of the most powerful companies in the world, as a divided bunch. Zuckerberg did briefly critique Trumps push to regulate social medias content moderation, saying that government choosing to censor a platform because theyre worried about censorship doesnt exactly strike me as the right reflex. But the resounding message of his interview was that Twitter was in this battle alone.
Trump quickly exploited this discord, directly quoting Zuckerbergs Fox comments in a tweet that further pitted the company against Twitter.
.@Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is today criticizing Twitter. We have a different policy than Twitter on this. I believe strongly that Facebook shouldnt be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online. Did Twitter criticize Obama for his you can keep your Dr.?
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
Trump and his supporters have for a while now been pushing the unfounded allegation that Silicon Valley elites are trying to brainwash the wider public by censoring conservative speech on their platforms. Now hes predictably using Twitters fact-check of his tweets to amplify and escalate that argument leading up to the 2020 elections.
In his responses after Twitters initial fact-check earlier this week, Trump didnt just threaten retaliatory action against Twitter, he referred to all social media companies. But it seems Twitter wont be getting reinforcements in this complex fight, at least for now.
If they have them, Facebook and Google seem to be keeping their criticisms about Trumps attacks on Twitter behind closed doors or through the filter of lobbying groups, legal teams, and industry associations. This isnt surprising. As I wrote previously, Twitter may be uniquely suited to stick its neck out in moderating Trump because its nowhere near being the behemoth that Google or Facebook is. It doesnt face the same government scrutiny over antitrust. It also doesnt rely on government contracts or advertising dollars to make up a sizable chunk of its revenue.
But Dorsey is still a reluctant challenger to Trump, and he seems to have gotten himself into what will surely be a complex and drawn-out feud with implications for the future of speech on the internet. Its a battle Dorsey has worked hard to avoid. For years, Twitter has let the president post tweets that are inaccurate, implicitly threatening, and arguably encouraging insurrection, without taking any action against them or his account. Thats because of a Twitter policy (Facebook has a similar one) which exempts world leaders tweets from being deleted in many of these situations since their tweets are deemed newsworthy. Thats why Twitters moves this week were still quite limited in scope: It hasnt deleted Trumps tweets or account altogether, which many have called for.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, Trumps post saying that when the looting starts, the shooting starts, which is identical to the one he posted on Twitter has been shared over 4,000 times and has nearly 40,000 thumbs up likes as of Thursday afternoon. Trumps post on voting by mail, which Twitter fact-checked, has also been shared on Facebook over 20,000 times and has over 200,000 reactions.
A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on Facebooks critique of Twitters handling of Trumps tweets. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google has stayed noticeably silent on Twitters battle over fact-checking Trump, although the company regularly deals with similar issues around moderating political content because of its video-sharing platform, YouTube.
In a statement to Recode, a spokesperson for Google sent a statement saying that undermining Section 230 would hurt Americas economy and its global leadership on internet freedom. A spokesperson for Facebook sent a similar statement on Thursday. Both companies did not respond to a request for comment about whether they defend Twitter, specifically, on the issue
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Home>>Sports>>The two tech giants are divided on how to handle Trump’s escalating war on social media.
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