C_Clayton_Jones
Diamond Member
“Hours after the fact check was issued, President Trump responded on Twitter, calling out the social media platform for censorship. Trump accused Twitter of violating his free speech and interfering in the 2020 election — an act, he says, he won’t allow to happen.”
www.wric.com
Fact checking Trump’s lies and conspiracy theories isn’t ‘censorship,’ Trump is completely wrong about that.
Trump is also wrong about his ‘free speech’ being ‘violated.’
The doctrine of free speech concerns solely the government seeking to preempt or limit speech, it applies only to government – a private entity such as Twitter cannot ‘violate’ anyone’s free speech, including Trump’s.
Indeed, Trump, as part of the Federal government, threatening to not allow Twitter to fact check his ridiculous lies and conspiracy theories is itself a potential violation of Twitter’s right to free speech.
![www.wric.com](https://www.wric.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/74/2020/05/donald_trump_fact_check.jpg?w=1280)
In a first, Twitter labels President Trump’s tweets with fact-checks
“Mailboxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed,” President Trump tweeted.
![www.wric.com](https://www.wric.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/74/2022/02/cropped-Faveicon-Site-Icon.png?w=32)
Fact checking Trump’s lies and conspiracy theories isn’t ‘censorship,’ Trump is completely wrong about that.
Trump is also wrong about his ‘free speech’ being ‘violated.’
The doctrine of free speech concerns solely the government seeking to preempt or limit speech, it applies only to government – a private entity such as Twitter cannot ‘violate’ anyone’s free speech, including Trump’s.
Indeed, Trump, as part of the Federal government, threatening to not allow Twitter to fact check his ridiculous lies and conspiracy theories is itself a potential violation of Twitter’s right to free speech.