Trump accuses Twitter of bias, GOP ‘shadow banning’ in tweet

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took aim at Twitter on Thursday, accusing the social media company of a “discriminatory and illegal practice” that has resulted in limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans in search results.

Republicans have been up in arms since Vice News reported Wednesday that, as a result of a technique known as “shadow banning,” Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and several conservative GOP congressman were no longer appearing in an autopopulated drop-down search box.

“Twitter ‘SHADOW BANNING’ prominent Republicans. Not good,” Trump wrote to his 53 million Twitter followers. “We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints.”

A Twitter spokesman declined to comment Thursday on the president’s tweet.

The social media company has said that it is aware that some accounts are not automatically populating in the search box and is working to address the issue.

In a tweet Wednesday, Kayvon Beykpour, head of product for Twitter, said that the company was not targeting Republicans and that it is working to alter its usage of “behavior signals” that inform its search results.

“To be clear, our behavioral ranking doesn’t make judgments based on political views or the substance of tweets,” Beykpour.

Vice News reported that Democrats, including some top liberal members, were not being “shadow banned,” according to a review by the publication.