Twitter announced on January 8 that it was permanently freezing the personal account of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States.
There were bipartisan reactions in Congress to a move by the tech company and social media company Twitter on Friday to permanently block Donald Trump’s account.
Republican senators believe that Twitter and other big tech companies have gone too far and should never agree with Twitter’s efforts to block free speech for the president and ordinary Americans. At the same time, lawmakers said that leaders and officials of autocratic countries such as Venezuela, Iran and the Chinese Communist Party were all allowed to voice their opinions on Twitter, questioning the double standards of tech companies.
But Democratic senators said Twitter was doing the right thing, and belatedly, against Trump.
At around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Twitter announced it was permanently freezing the personal account that Trump has identified as the 45th president of the United States. At 8:29 p.m., President Donald Trump tweeted again from a presidential account labeled as the United States government, but both tweets were quickly deleted by social media site Twitter.
Here are some of the senators’ tweets.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said: “It is time for Congress to repeal Section 230 and put big tech companies on the same legal status as the rest of America.”
“Big tech companies are the only companies in America that have almost absolute immunity from prosecution for their actions because Congress has given them that protection.
“I am more determined than ever to get rid of the Section 230 protections for big tech [Twitter] from lawsuits.
“Twitter may ban me for this, but I am willing to accept that your decision to permanently ban President Trump’s account was a grave mistake.
“Iran’s Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] can tweet, but Trump can’t. That says a lot about the people who manage Twitter.”
Republican senator richie Scott (Rich Scott) tweeted: “twitter again shows a blatant prejudice. Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro (Nicolas Maduro) is a mob, his imprisonment and silence dissidents to him, he controlled the judicial departments and let the people go hungry. Maduro committed genocide, but be allowed to use the twitter spread propaganda, without any consequences. (twitter) shame.”
Responding to Twitter’s blog post permanently blocking Trump’s account, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said: “Thank you, Twitter for taking this action. We must come together as a country to heal and find a common way forward.”
Democratic Senator Mark Warner tweeted: “[This is] a belated step. But it’s important to remember that this is much bigger than just one person. This is about an entire ecosystem that allows misinformation and hate to spread and ferment uncontrolled.”
Democratic Senator Tina Smith posted a photo of Trump’s blocked account with the caption: “Good job. Late but good job.”
The official account of Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee tweeted directly to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. “Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Communist Party of China (CCP) are still allowed to tweet,” they quipped. “Absolutely a joke. And a disgrace.
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