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Will Twitter eventually ban Trump?
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/11/will-twitter-ban-trump-in-2021/617071/Twitter’s Next Trump Problem
Trump is exempt from many of Twitter’s policies because of his status as a world leader. Come January, he could lose his favorite toy and most powerful weapon.
This year, Twitter did start moderating the president—and misinformation in general—meaningfully for the first time. In the spring, when Trump spread blatant disinformation about the coronavirus, the company slapped warning labels on his tweets. (It also briefly suspended his son Donald Trump Jr. for sharing a video that claims hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19.) Throughout the summer and fall, President Trump’s lies about mail-in voting and election fraud have been appended with notes about the disputed claims and links to real information. Since November 4, the president has tweeted (or retweeted himself) more than 120 times. So far, about 40 of these tweets come with a warning label. (This is not counting the claims of election fraud he has retweeted from other people.)
Now he is two months away from losing exemption from Twitter’s rules—theoretically going back to the same treatment as anyone else. “[The world-leader] policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions,” a Twitter spokesperson confirmed in a statement. Twitter has spent the past year putting checks on the president’s speech, adding friction to the process by which conspiracy theories spread, and labeling false information for what it is. But it hasn’t yet gone nuclear. The company is in a bind: Banning Trump after he leaves office would be interpreted as an aggressive political act by much of the right. It might drive him and his followers to other, more insular parts of the internet, where delusions and lies would go unchecked by the mainstream. But allowing him to keep spreading dangerous misinformation would be hypocritical, and, frankly, bad for the company’s image.
So … will Twitter do it? (snip)
One way to predict whether Twitter will ban Trump would be to look at its track record with similar cases. In the past, Twitter has been extremely reluctant and somewhat vague about its decisions to outright ban famous people. It has been particularly hesitant to implement bans when they can appear to lend credence to the right’s pet narrative about being “censored” by Big Tech. When Twitter was waffling on banning the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, for example, CEO Jack Dorsey said the company had to hold Jones to “the same standard” as every other account, and resist “taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories.” Jones eventually was banned, for “abusive behavior,” and Twitter did not provide details beyond stating that.
When I asked around among Trump’s allies about whether they suspect he’ll be banned once he leaves office, only the right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich responded. “Of course he will be,” he said, adding that he imagined the company would be counting down the days. The experts I spoke with were much less certain. “I think it’s quite possible,” James Grimmelmann, a professor at Cornell Law School who has studied moderation, told me. “Twitter has all along said that the policy that has kept Trump on Twitter is an exception for leaders and political figures.” But then Grimmelmann walked it back, saying the platform might just continue labeling false claims with warnings, or start removing individual tweets. (The White House did not return a request for comment.)
(much more at the link)
Trump is exempt from many of Twitter’s policies because of his status as a world leader. Come January, he could lose his favorite toy and most powerful weapon.
This year, Twitter did start moderating the president—and misinformation in general—meaningfully for the first time. In the spring, when Trump spread blatant disinformation about the coronavirus, the company slapped warning labels on his tweets. (It also briefly suspended his son Donald Trump Jr. for sharing a video that claims hydroxychloroquine is a cure for COVID-19.) Throughout the summer and fall, President Trump’s lies about mail-in voting and election fraud have been appended with notes about the disputed claims and links to real information. Since November 4, the president has tweeted (or retweeted himself) more than 120 times. So far, about 40 of these tweets come with a warning label. (This is not counting the claims of election fraud he has retweeted from other people.)
Now he is two months away from losing exemption from Twitter’s rules—theoretically going back to the same treatment as anyone else. “[The world-leader] policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions,” a Twitter spokesperson confirmed in a statement. Twitter has spent the past year putting checks on the president’s speech, adding friction to the process by which conspiracy theories spread, and labeling false information for what it is. But it hasn’t yet gone nuclear. The company is in a bind: Banning Trump after he leaves office would be interpreted as an aggressive political act by much of the right. It might drive him and his followers to other, more insular parts of the internet, where delusions and lies would go unchecked by the mainstream. But allowing him to keep spreading dangerous misinformation would be hypocritical, and, frankly, bad for the company’s image.
So … will Twitter do it? (snip)
One way to predict whether Twitter will ban Trump would be to look at its track record with similar cases. In the past, Twitter has been extremely reluctant and somewhat vague about its decisions to outright ban famous people. It has been particularly hesitant to implement bans when they can appear to lend credence to the right’s pet narrative about being “censored” by Big Tech. When Twitter was waffling on banning the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, for example, CEO Jack Dorsey said the company had to hold Jones to “the same standard” as every other account, and resist “taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories.” Jones eventually was banned, for “abusive behavior,” and Twitter did not provide details beyond stating that.
When I asked around among Trump’s allies about whether they suspect he’ll be banned once he leaves office, only the right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich responded. “Of course he will be,” he said, adding that he imagined the company would be counting down the days. The experts I spoke with were much less certain. “I think it’s quite possible,” James Grimmelmann, a professor at Cornell Law School who has studied moderation, told me. “Twitter has all along said that the policy that has kept Trump on Twitter is an exception for leaders and political figures.” But then Grimmelmann walked it back, saying the platform might just continue labeling false claims with warnings, or start removing individual tweets. (The White House did not return a request for comment.)
(much more at the link)
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-atlantic/
POLL QUESTION: If Trump's pattern of behavior does not change after he becomes a private citizen, do you think Twitter will eventually ban him?
| 14 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Time expired | |
| Yes. He'll probably be given multiple warnings and short suspensions, then eventually banned outright. | |
9 (64%) |
|
| No. He'll probably continued to be moderated (ie: ⚠ With special warnings and disclaimer tags. ⚠) | |
5 (36%) |
|
| 0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
| Show usernames
Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll |
|
7 replies
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