Trump hails conservatives for bypassing ‘fake news’ on social media

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told the conservative critics of social media Thursday that they’ve successfully used the platforms to send messages directly to the American people without going through the “fake news filter.”

Trump has weaponized social media to eviscerate opponents and promote himself. He convened Thursday’s White House “social media summit” of like-minded critics of Big Tech, excluding representatives from the very platforms he exploits.

Earlier Thursday, Trump sent a stream of Twitter messages lashing out at social media companies and the press.

The meeting represented an escalation of Trump’s battle with companies like Facebook, Google and even his preferred communications outlet, Twitter. The president has claimed, without evidence, that the companies are “against me” and even suggested U.S. regulators should sue them on grounds of anti-conservative bias.

In remarks to the participants, whom Trump called “online journalists and influencers,” Trump said, “You’re challenging the media gatekeepers and corporate censors to bring the truth to the American people.”

“You communicate directly with our citizens without going through the fake news filter,” he said.

The White House event raised the prospect of Trump using the forum to signal tough actions ahead by his administration against big tech companies in the areas of competition and privacy.

The firms already are under closer scrutiny than ever by regulators and in Congress following a stream of scandals including Facebook’s lapses opening the personal data of millions of users to Trump’s 2016 campaign, and a bipartisan push for new data privacy legislation has emerged in Congress. Regulators at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are pursuing antitrust investigations of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon.