Donald Trump is Fake News
"Donald Trump is fake news” was the loudest slogan being shouted by the crowd of protesters gathered outside Twitter headquarters. This was yet another peaceful citizens’ protest in what seems to be a series of similar protests and vigils sweeping the country.
The number of people publicly opposing Donald Trump as president has shot up after his victory on 8 November. The final vote that will decide who becomes the 45th president of the United States of America is going to be held on 19 December when the electoral college votes.
Whatever the outcome of this final step, one thing seems clear, protests and opposition are going to be a hallmark of this presidency. Already, there is a record number of people planning to protest his inauguration in Washington DC should he be elected on the 19th.
Donald Trump now has over 17.5 million followers on Twitter, making his account among the top hundred most followed. With this kind of reach comes great power and with great power comes a lot of responsibility, which is exactly what these protests are all about.
The Pressure is Building
There are a number of petitions on various platforms across the Internet. Like this one called ‘Tell Twitter to Suspend Donald Trump!’ that has quickly hit its goal of 55,000 signatures.
Mainstream media is also taking a stand, finally waking up to its role as the guardian of the interests of society. Vanity Fair has asked the question, Slate has had a discussion on this issue, and now Salon is exhorting Twitter to take a stand.
How is Twitter Responding?
Twitter has been known to suspend accounts that it deems are in violation of their policy. Hateful conduct and harassment are both included as specific items that the policy prohibits that would get accounts suspended,
When pushed to respond to whether this would apply to the president, the company publicly stated that the policy applies to all accounts including “verified accounts”.
But protesters in San Francisco, outside the Twitter headquarters, were threatened with arrests, and this was done, according to the police officers present, on the authority of “building management”.
The police acted very professionally the whole time. There was just a lot of display of very asymmetrical and unnecessary force. We were there for human reasons. They allow Trump on their platform, and we get the armed cops.A protester
In the meantime, rampant policy violations continue on Twitter.
More Protests to Come
The organisers of the protest feel strongly about their goal, and plan to spread their message to as many people as they can.
After the shock of Trumpland wore off, I decided to sign up on Facebook and Twitter. When I saw that he had a staggering 17 million followers, I knew that the problem was the platform he relayed his message on, and that they were being hypocrites in their publicly stated policy vs action. Clearly, influence and money wins instead of the right thing, the obvious thing.A protester
The mood was hopeful as the protesters dispersed late in the evening. The next protest is planned for December 30th so that “people can do something constructive and reasonable this holiday season, and as food for thought for the new year”, as one of them puts it.
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