Trump accuses social media companies of bias against his supporters

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump assailed Facebook, Google and Twitter on Thursday, accusing them of exhibiting “terrible bias” and silencing his supporters, at a White House “social media summit” that critics chastised for giving a prominent stage to some of the Internet’s most controversial, incendiary voices.

For Mr. Trump, the conference represented his highest profile broadside yet against Silicon Valley after months of accusations that tech giants censor conservative users and websites. In doing so, the president also sought to rally his widely followed online allies, whom he described as “journalists and influencers” that together can reach roughly half a billion people, entering the 2020 presidential election.

“Some of you are extraordinary. The crap you think of is unbelievable,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump delivered his winding diatribe against Facebook, Google and Twitter — charges of political bias that all three companies long have denied — at an event at the White House featuring Republican lawmakers, GOP campaign strategists and socialmedia meme makers, a move that led some critics to express dismay that the president actually aimed to use the policy summit as a re- election push.

But Democratic lawmakers and watchdog groups said they were most alarmed that Mr. Trump had invited supporters who have a history of targeting the president’s political opponents with inflammatory tweets, misleading videos and hard- to- debunk conspiracy theories. At one point, the president praised James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, which has released widely criticized, highly edited videos of his subjects.

“Somebody said he’s controversial,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s truthful.”

In response, critics fretted that Mr. Trump had essentially endorsed their controversial tactics in the early days of the 2020 presidential race.

“This has the appearance not of a social media summit but a political rally and call for the right,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. “The fact that some of the most extreme voices on social media are coming to the White House, and they get a forum to complain about how often they’re retweeted, and that the actual platform companies aren’t even invited, smacks of the absurd.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, meanwhile, charged that the president is “essentially conducting a hate summit at the White House,” said Heidi Beirich, the director of the group’s work to track online extremism.

Facebook, Google and Twitter each declined comment.

Earlier Thursday, Mr. Trump sent a stream of Twitter messages lashing out at social media companies and the press, familiar targets that resonate with his conservative base. The president predicted, without foundation, the demise of the press and the social media platforms if he loses to a Democrat in 2020. He hailed himself as “so great looking and smart, a true Stable Genius!”