Congressman Sends Letter to Twitter CEO, Calls Out Platform for Allowing Taliban Members while Banning Donald Trump
Critics say Twitter has a “troubling double standard” for banning former President Donald Trump but allegedly allowing the Taliban to operate its accounts.
Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado sent a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey criticizing Twitter for not enforcing its fact-checking efforts on the Taliban accounts or even banning them because they are “violent organizations,” The Christan Post reports.
“It is clear that the Taliban is a violent organization,” wrote the congressman, noting that he “did not find a single fact check on any of their tweets, nor any warnings for false or misleading content.”
“It is impossible to see how the accounts of [Taliban members] Zabihullah Mujahid and Yousef Ahmadi do not violate your policies.”
Lamborn said he worried that Twitter has a political bias “in its algorithms.”
A Twitter spokesperson told Newsweek his week that the company “continues to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam.”
The official said that Twitter will hold the Taliban accounts to its content standards.
In comparison, Facebook does not allow content that promotes the Taliban.
“The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under U.S. law, and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organization policies,” a Facebook spokesperson told CNBC on Tuesday.
In January, former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter after hundreds of pro-Trump protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Some pointed to Trump’s tweets that allegedly encouraged the riot.
In its own statement released in January, Twitter said Trump was banned because of a “risk of further incitement of violence.”
“Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open,” stated Twitter.
“However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.”
Last month, Trump filed a lawsuit against Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites that have banned him.
Photo courtesy: Brett Jordan/Unsplash
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
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