Lawmakers and a civil liberties group are speaking out against Twitter’s decision on Friday to permanently ban President Trump from its platform.
Twitter decided to ban Trump for violation of its glorification of violence policy. Many on the right have taken to Twitter to speak out against this decision.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted, “Silencing speech is dangerous. It’s un-American. Sadly, this isn’t a new tactic of the Left” and compared Twitter to the Chinese Communist Party.
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also expressed their displeasure with Twitter’s decision.
Many Republican members of congress described Twitter’s decision as an example of Big Tech overreach and censorship.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) also briefly changed her profile picture to one of Trump.
“For the few liberals left in the Democrat party: work with us to protect our most sacred rights. This must be our greatest priority,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) tweeted.
American Civil Liberties Union Senior Legislative Counsel Kate Ruane also put out a statement about Twitter’s decision, saying the “unchecked power” tech has should concern everyone.
Ruane added that Trump has the ability to take his message elsewhere but that “Black, Brown, and LGBTQ activists” won’t have the same resources if social media platforms censor them.
Twitter has also suspended Trump’s campaign account and digital director for attempting to let Trump use their accounts to have a platform on the site. Twitter will continue to ban any accounts that try to help Trump get back to its platform.