EXPLAINER: Can social media companies boot Trump? Yes

Social media companies decided this past week y h finally seen eugh from President Donald Trump. Facebook and Instagram suspended Trump at least until Inauguration Day. Twitch and Snapchat also disabled Trump’s accounts. To top it all off, Twitter ended a nearly 12-year run and shuttered his account, severing an instant line of communication to his 89 million followers. Conservatives are crying foul.

“Free Speech Is Under Attack! Censorship is happening like NEVER before! Don’t let m silence us. Sign up at http://DONJR.COM to stay connected!” his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted Friday.CAN TWITTER AND FACEBOOK LEGALLY TAKE SUCH ACTION? short answer is yes.

As Congressional Research Service has explained in a report for federal lawmakers and ir staffs, lawsuits predicated on a website’s decision to remove content largely fail. That’s because free speech protections set out in First Amendment generally apply only to when a person is harmed by an action of government. “ First Amendment doesn’t apply to private sector organizations. That’s t how this works,” said Chris Krebs, when asked Sunday wher censorship by social media companies violated freedom of speech protections.

Krebs oversaw election cybersecurity efforts at Department of Homeland Security until Trump fired him when he disputed election fraud claims. Speaking on CBS’s “Face Nation” Sunday, he explained that companies enforce ir own standards and policies for users. That’s what happened at Twitter on Friday.

WHAT RATIONALE DID TWITTER TAKE FOR ITS ACTIONS?

company said after reviewing Trump’s account in context of riot at Capitol on Wednesday, it was concerned about two tweets he sent Friday that Twitter said could incite violence. y were: “ 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into future. y will t be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” “To all of those who have asked, I will t be going to Inauguration on January 20th.”

first tweet, company said, was received by some supporters as furr confirmation that v. 3 election was t legitimate — but in fact, tion of widespre voter fraud is a baseless claim. use of words “American Patriots” to describe some of his supporters was also interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at Capitol. company said second tweet could serve as encourment to those considering violent acts that inauguration ceremonies on Jan. 20 would be a “safe” target since he would t be attending.

“Our determination is that two Tweets above are likely to inspire ors to replicate violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that re are multiple indicators that y are being received and understood as encourment to do so,” Twitter wrote.

(Im Credit: AP)