We are a year into a global pandemic. We are several years into a plague of disinformation. Close mindedness and the rapid spread of false information has been an issue for far too long. The situation has not been helped by the actions of outgoing President Donald Trump or big tech companies like Twitter.
Trump’s speeches and statements after the Capitol rampage were disgusting at best. Addressing the rioters the way he did, by calling them “special” and telling them he “loved them” while they were destroying one of the greatest symbols of our democracy, was the most disgraceful thing Trump has done in his four years of presidency.
Trump’s track record of lies has been made more obvious than nearly any other politicians’. His babbling on Twitter helped fuel the fire that led to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, and just a few days afterward Twitter permanently suspended his account was permanently suspended because of his tweets due to a violation of their rules. violated Twitter’s company rules.
After Trump’s account was removed, he attempted to spread his message through other accounts, which were quickly suspended or had certain tweets taken down.
“You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease,” Twitter’s hateful conduct policy states. “We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories.”
Despite how gross Trump’s statements toward the rioters were, things started to get dingy. Did Trump actually incite violence or was it just the way his supporters perceived his words?
Twitter decided the amount of violence we saw at the Capitol and the threats of violence afterward were a direct result of Trump’s tweeted communications.
Right-leaners and conservatives believe big tech is a threat to the rights discussed in the First Amendment, particularly the freedom of speech, and are showing what they think about it.
“Free expression is a human right – we believe that everyone has a voice, and the right to use it,” Twitter’s policy states. “Our role is to serve the public conversation, which requires representation of a diverse range of perspectives.”
Twitter did nothing to quell the rising threats of violence. If anything, they only stirred the pot by creating silence. The company’s vagueness on the matter has only made things worse.
At its roots, this is an issue about disinformation and division. Twitter’s lame attempts to combat Trump’s spread of lies are more divisive than the deepest ravines with all its bridges burned.
Rather than playing into “cancel culture” by suspending tweets and accounts, Twitter should make stronger efforts to create a culture of open-mindedness and learning; especially if their “mission is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information, and to express their opinions and beliefs without barriers,” according to their policy.
This path is significantly more difficult and will use many more resources, but since Twitter is a big tech company–they can afford it.
Should Trump’s account have been permanently suspended? No. While it may have stopped a major source of disinformation, the aftershocks of removing him from the platform are just as likely to give extreme conservatives another reason to get violent, especially with Twitter’s policies worded the way they are.
Canceling him will not solve the problem. Twitter needs to bring all of their creative employees’ minds together to come up with something that could rebuild burned bridges.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected]