President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania’s, recent Covid-19 diagnosis have become worldwide news. Now that he has caught the virus, social media has been ruthless, including many users celebrating Trump's diagnosis. But Twitter is banning any dialogue that wishes bodily harm upon the President. Now the platform is being criticized for its new regulation.
On Friday, Twitter released a statement announcing that users who wish death upon the president, or "anyone," were violating its terms of use. It confirmed that such posts will be pulled from the platform and said such "abusive" behavior can even lead to an account being suspended.
The statement, which has been shared more than 28,000 times, has drawn criticism from many personalities who said they themselves had been targeted with similar abuse but received no support from Twitter.
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay accused the platform of failing to protect women and minority users from abuse. She tweeted, “Does this also go for Black and Brown women who have long been and continue to be harassed and threatened with assault and death on this platform or nah? I think no. Because I see those same accounts still up. Still causing harm. Your *anyone* is disingenuous.”
Twitter isn't legally wrong for censoring its users in this way. Under federal law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, tech companies are allowed to set their own rules for what is and is not allowed to be posted to their platforms. However, while said abusive behavior should be policed on social media, enforcement has long been too lax for those who are not straight, white, male, and powerful.
