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After his inflammatory messages to his followers over the election debacle, Donald Trump was de-platformed from Twitter on January 8 (and from Facebook after the Capitol Riots). The two social-media firms have still now allowed to him a comeback about 100 days later. His critics find the action praiseworthy, but free-speech activists may not agree.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” were his famous last words [https://www.thetrumparchive.com/], after which Twitter pulled the plug on him. The micro-blogging sites is so adamant that it won’t allow even the National Archives to make the former president’s past tweets from his @realDonaldTrump account available on the platform [https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/07/twitter-national-archives-realdonaldtrump-479743]. Facebook, meanwhile, is considering the question of allowing him to return, but its Oversight Board this week postponed taking a call. A decision on whether the former president can resume his accounts on Facebook as well as Instagram is due by April 21, but the board said it would decide “in the coming weeks.” [https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56781104] It has already received 9,000 public comments and it has extended its deadline for more.
In those charged-up days of January, the decision not to let Trump use their platforms to air his diatribes and allegedly provoke violence was much appreciated in most quarters. The two most popular social media sites indeed add a multiplier effect, and a freeze was necessary to restore law and order. However, the free-speech angle should be considered again now that there is no immediate threat to democracy. Also, Trump has the right to speak and be heard – within the permissible limits. Rudy Giuliani last month tweeted, “We need President Trump back on Twitter” [https://twitter.com/RudyGiuliani/status/1370761305792086018], and got 66.2K likes (and countless adverse comments). His critics however point to his voluminous record of lies and hate messages, and prefer the social media as it is, Trump-free, less divisive, more sane. (Some have even reported improvement in their blood pressure or sleep quality: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/17/us/politics/trump-twitter.html)
On Trump-social media relationship:
https://theconversation.com/trumps-twitter-ban-obscures-the-real-problem-state-backed-manipulation-is-rampant-on-social-media-153136
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/11/opinion-divided-over-trump-being-banned-from-social-media
https://www.statepress.com/article/2021/01/sppolitics-students-and-professors-weigh-in-on-social-media-censorship-debate-following-trumps-ban
https://www.vox.com/culture/22230847/deplatforming-free-speech-controversy-trump