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Trump moves to assert party control despite Facebook ban
By Michael Mathes
Washington (AFP) May 5, 2021

From icon to pariah: Trump and social media
Washington (AFP) May 5, 2021 - Donald Trump was among the most effective politicians at using social media and built a vast following on the major platforms before being abruptly banned.

With Facebook's independent oversight board upholding the platform's ban on the former US president on Wednesday -- but calling for a company review within six months -- here are some key points about his often turbulent relationship with social media:

- Unfiltered -

Trump built a massive following of some 88 million on Twitter and 35 million on Facebook, using his personal accounts more than official ones, even in political and policy statements.

Critics said Trump repeatedly violated platform rules on hateful and abusive content but he was largely unfiltered until the final months of his presidency.

His unusual usage made social media an important place for political discourse.

Trump's blocking of people who criticized him on Twitter prompted a lawsuit, and a court ruled in 2019 that his personal account was effectively a "public forum" that must allow all voices.

- Exceptions to the rules -

The major social networks until last year largely rejected calls to remove Trump's often inflammatory or untruthful posts, saying that even if he violated the rules, his comments should remain available because they were newsworthy.

The US leader blew hot and cold on social media, often accusing platforms of political bias. But he also invited Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to a private White House dinner in 2019, sparking speculation that the Californian tech behemoth was giving him special treatment.

- Warning labels -

In 2020, Facebook and Twitter started applying warning labels to some of Trump's messages, such as one in which he encouraged people to try to vote twice, via mail and in person. "When Polls open, go to your Polling Place to see if it was COUNTED. IF NOT, VOTE!," he posted.

Facebook last June removed a Trump ad which used a Nazi concentration camp symbol of an inverted triangle, and the big platforms gradually stepped up their moderation of his posts.

Facebook removed one of his comments which said the US had "learned to live with" flu season, "just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!" while Twitter hid the message, requiring users to click to see it.

- Things fall apart -

After battling through a contentious election in which Trump was seen as a major source of misinformation, the platforms took more decisive action after the deadly rampage of his supporters January 6 at the US Capitol.

"The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page.

Twitter took a similar path but founder Jack Dorsey acknowledged some of the blame for allowing things to get out of hand.

"Having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications," Dorsey said in a string of tweets about his take on the company's decision to permanently bar the president.

"While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation."

Social media has been his weapon of choice for battling Republican dissidents, but Donald Trump is seeking to tighten his iron grip on the party even after a ruling Wednesday extending his ban on Facebook.

Despite losing the presidency to Joe Biden last year and enduring a second impeachment after January's deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, the brash billionaire remains his party's most influential figure.

He made clear he knows it Wednesday, reiterating his false claims of election fraud and demanding a leadership shake-up which led his former rival Biden to declare that a "mini-revolution" was upending the Republican Party.

Trump blasted party leaders who have publicly reprimanded him, including top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, or who voted to impeach him in January, most notably number three House Republican Liz Cheney who appears increasingly likely to face removal from her conference chairmanship.

"Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party leadership," Trump said in a fervid statement, adding that he backs leaders who believe in his "Make America Great Again" movement.

New York Republican congresswoman "Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL endorsement for GOP conference chair," he said.

Stefanik, a 36-year-old onetime moderate who went all-in for Trump during his presidency, voted against certifying the election results for Biden in multiple swing states.

Trump's endorsement comes amid rising party tensions over Cheney, the most senior Republican woman in Congress, who has refused to tamp down her public denunciations of Trump.

And it all but assures that a conference-wide vote on whether to keep Cheney in the post will occur soon after lawmakers return to Washington next week.

Cheney, a third-term congresswoman from Wyoming, punched back at Trump in a new op-ed.

Her party was "at a turning point," she wrote in The Washington Post, calling on fellow Republicans to "steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality."

"History is watching," she added.

The internal tug-of-war caught the attention of Biden, who told reporters Wednesday he was surprised at the Republican revolt.

"I think the Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point," he said.

Minutes after Facebook's independent oversight board upheld a ban on Trump -- although it ordered the social media giant to further review the case -- he blasted the restriction as a "total disgrace" and warned against limiting a president's free speech rights.

He also repeated his audacious lie that Biden and other Democrats stole the election.

Cheney "continues to unknowingly and foolishly say that there was no election fraud in the 2020 presidential election when in fact, the evidence... shows the exact opposite," Trump seethed.

"Had gutless and clueless MINORITY Leader Mitch McConnell... fought to expose all of the corruption that was presented at the time, with more found since, we would have had a far different presidential result, and our country would not be turning into a socialist nightmare."

The former president added a rallying cry to his supporters: "Never give up!"

- Missing megaphone -

With Trump considering another White House run, he launched a new page on his website where he pledges to present information to voters "straight from the desk of Donald J Trump."

But he no doubt misses the social media megaphone that allowed him to dominate news cycles and impulsively blast his message to more than 100 million followers.

"To be clear, if you are Trump and you want to have influence in 2022 and 2024 -- and possibly run for office in 2024 -- it is better to be on social media than not," Professor Joshua Tucker, co-director of New York University's Center for Social Media and Politics, told AFP.

Trump's attacks Wednesday appeared aimed at clipping the wings of high-profile Republicans who have not embraced his false voter fraud narrative.

Cheney, 54, is one of few congressional Republicans who openly declare Trump lost fair and square in November.

She repeated the assertion Monday, tweeting that anyone who claims the 2020 election was stolen "is spreading THE BIG LIE (and) poisoning our democratic system."

While Cheney easily won a secret ballot vote by Republicans in February, the Trump-backed challenge to her leadership role may well end with her ouster.

Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy backed Cheney in February but was recently caught on a hot mic saying he has "lost confidence" in her.


Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com


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