Donald Trump is considering forming an official commission to review anti-conservative bias on social media, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Left-wing bias in the tech world is a concern that definitely needs to be addressed from our vantage point, and at least exposed [so] Americans have clear eyes about what we’re dealing with,” a White House official told the outlet.
The President told his Twitter followers 16th May his administration was investigating ways to reduce alleged bias at Facebook, Twitter, and Google, claiming “the Radical Left is in total command and control” of the trio and he was “working to remedy this illegal situation”. Facebook dismissed the allegation.
“People on both sides of the aisle disagree with some of the positions we’ve taken, but we remain committed to seeking outside perspectives and communicating clearly about why we make the decisions we do,” the company said in a statement.
In a statement to Wall Street Journal, Twitter said it enforced rules “impartially for all users, regardless of their background or political affiliation”.
Likewise, Google claimed to the outlet it “builds its products with care and safeguards to be a trustworthy source of information for everyone, without any regard for political viewpoint”.
“Online platforms don’t have a political bias, and offer more people a chance to have their voice heard than at any point in history,” Jon Berroya, interim president of the Internet Association trade group added.
Trump routinely attacks what he perceives as bias on the part of Google and Facebook. His administration arranged a White House summit on social media in 2019, inviting many conservative social media figures to discuss ways in which tech companies have apparently silenced and suppressed their views.
Trump has also more generally taken aim at Silicon Valley over the course of his Presidency, telling his Twitter followers March 2019 he was looking into accusations Facebook is suppressing content, and in June that year suggesting Google “should be sued” after a company executive was caught in an undercover video suggesting the search engine monopole was looking for ways to prevent “the next Trump situation”.