World News – US – Trump’s election lies dangerous for democracy Twitter must suspend his account

This article was originally published on Common Dreams It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 30 License Please feel free to repost and share widely

As Twitter continued to put warning labels on President Donald Trump’s « misleading » tweets on Thursday, two national democracy watch groups in the US called on the social media giant to immediately suspend the president’s account for « repeated violations » of his own rules

In a joint letter (pdf) to CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, Common Cause and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law express their gratitude for the « removal and reporting » of certain posts by the media company social policies that could potentially harm voters, « but say that » in some cases these corrective measures do not go far enough « 

Since polling day, Twitter has hidden several of the president’s posts containing lies about the results and election fraud behind the post: « Some or all of the content shared in this tweet is disputed and could be misleading about an election or other process « Users can still choose to » see « tweets

In their letter, both groups urge Dorsey to temporarily suspend the personal account from which the president typically tweets – @ realDonaldTrump – noting that the company has taken such steps in response to violations by other public figures

« We are not aware of any exceptions for current elected officials who, because of their position, pose an even greater threat to the public when they are allowed to repeatedly violate your policies with impunity » , reads the letter « President Trump’s repeated use of the Twitter service to amplify false statements about our elections is a willful violation of the platform’s civic integrity policy »

The letter cites lines from the policy and provides examples of Trump appearing to violate it in the past day before expressing concern that « President Trump’s continued use of the Twitter platform to spread misinformation could incite the public in a way that could prove harmful to the public security, if you haven’t already « 

« We are concerned that in the absence of action from Twitter, the President will achieve his goal of delegitimizing the integrity of our democratic processes for many, and not just for Twitter users, but for others voters and members of the public, sowing uncertainty about the voting and election process, and potentially inciting violence against officials and others, ”the letter adds

While recognizing that Twitter must strive to « balance the notoriety of a public figure’s use of the platform and the potential threats to democracy and public safety resulting from its unhindered use », groups conclude that « especially in the next 24-48 hours, the balance must be balanced towards the free, fair and transparent functioning of our civic processes »

The letter is signed by Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause, and Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Clarke said in a statement Thursday that « Twitter has a duty to ensure that its platform is not used to attack the foundations of our democracy »

Hobert Flynn agrees, explaining that « we are a democracy and democracies count all votes But the president freely uses his Twitter account in an attempt to deliberately undermine the nation’s vote count and undermine the confidence of Americans in our elections »

« We urge Twitter to take immediate action to enforce its own policies and curb President Trump’s Twitter campaign to spread misinformation and stir up unrest among its followers, » she added « The President’s actions are dangerous and irresponsible and Twitter has an obligation to be a responsible corporate citizen and to safeguard our democracy »

At the time of going to press, ballots were still counted in several states, but the New York Times predicted that Trump had only won 214 electoral votes, compared to 253 for Democratic candidate Joe Biden Biden currently leads in Arizona and Nevada – which, with 11 and 6 electoral votes each, would be enough for the former vice president to win the race

Copyright © 2019 Saloncom, LLC Reproduction of material from all Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited SALON® is registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Saloncom, LLC Articles of the Associated Press: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press All rights reserved This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Donald Trump, Twitter, democracy