Bernie Sanders, the most influential democratic socialist senator in the United States, has turned his nose up at Twitter's recent decisions to ban Donald Trump following the attack on the Capitol. The politician, in an interview with the podcast Ezra Klein Show, said the former president is “racist, sexist, homophobic, authoritarian and has no respect for the law,” but that he is not comfortable with big tech leaders having so much control over public discussions.
Sanders agrees that the internet should be a place free from authoritarian plots and insurrection, and that social media should not allow hate speech and conspiracy theories. The difficult part, according to the senator, is balancing the decisions between censorship and action against extremism. The senator argues:
“So how do you balance that? I don’t know, but that’s an issue we need to think about. Because yesterday it was Donald Trump who was banned, and tomorrow it could be someone else who has a completely different point of view.”
Sanders weighs his comment by saying that Trump’s ban creates a delicate situation. The senator concludes that the United States must consider how to preserve First Amendment rights, that of free speech, without leading the country into a “big lie” mentality. That is, of course, if the mentality itself doesn’t end up generating a network to call your own.
Understand the case
Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter for publishing incitements to violence after his defeat to Joe Biden in the presidential race, calling the election a fraud and leading protesters to attack the Capitol, in Washington. Other social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, the YouTube e to Snapchat made similar decisions.
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Business Insider
Image: Nick Solari (Wikimedia Commons)
