Social media ban of Trump shows hypocritical US standard on freedom of speech

President Donald Trump lost his online megaphone after several US social media platforms collectively banned his personal accounts in response to the Wednesday Capitol chaos.

Trump over the past four years has been regarded as “a commander in tweets.” Many of his posts, however, were accused of being provocative, inflammatory and spreading falsehoods. Twitter accused two of his tweets posted Friday (one calling his supporters “patriots” and another saying he would not go to the presidential inauguration on January 20) of violating its rules against glorifying violence, following the storming of the US Capitol on Wednesday.

Just imagine if an influential public opinion figure was banned on social media platforms in other countries, especially those deemed as enemies by the US. The US would vehemently accuse those countries of suppressing freedom of speech!

The hypocrisy and double standards of US democracy have increasingly been laid bare in recent years. Take freedom of speech. For American media outlets and many Americans, those who can speak and whose “freedom of speech” is protected are those who hold similar political viewpoints with them.

Regardless of US hypocrisy when it comes to freedom of speech, banning Trump on social media platforms offers us a chance to redefine and understand freedom of speech. “Even in the US, a country which claims itself to be the beacon of democracy, freedom of speech has boundaries and bottom lines,” Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.

The next time when the US points an accusing finger at other countries’ efforts to regulate online contents, can it bear this fact in mind?