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Medvedev condemns social media’s purge of Trump without due cause

Medvedev castigated US Big Tech’s decision to block the accounts of former US President Trump as outrageous

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev Ekaterina Shtukina/TASS

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev

© Ekaterina Shtukina/TASS

GORKI, February 1. /TASS/. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev castigated US Big Tech’s decision to block the accounts of former US President Donald Trump as outrageous, since he was not presented with any official charges, he said in an interview with Russian media outlets, including TASS. According to the politician, this decision was motivated by the political views of these tech giants’ corporate executives and goes against the principles of objectivity.

"You’ve mentioned this incident with Donald Trump. It is outrageous, and it is simply beyond understanding. I would like to point out that the President of the United States has not been charged with any counts whatsoever. There’s some talk, but that’s just talk, while some procedures are in place. In the absence of legislation regulating the activities of these networks, they cut off voters," Medvedev contended. "Why did they make this decision? Because they thought it was the right thing to do. And why did they think it was right to do so? Because they sympathize with the Democrats. But should this affect the objectivity of their stance? The right answer would be no," he emphasized.

Medvedev highlighted the fact that Trump had had 85 mln subscribers on Twitter. "There were a lot of them on other networks, too. I’m not sure, the calculations varied, going almost as high as 200 mln. And this was the incumbent president of the world’s largest economy, and a country of key significance," he stressed, adding that if the decision to block Trump’s account had been made by the US administration, he would have understood it. However, this was a corporate decision.

Big Tech muzzles Trump’s accounts

After the US Capitol protests in Washington DC on January 6, Facebook and Instagram (which is also owned by Facebook), decided to suspend the accounts of then-US President Donald Trump, preventing him from posting on these networks until January 20, when his term of office ended. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Trump was planning to use his remaining time in office to hinder the peaceful and lawful transition of power. However, some time later, Trump’s accounts were able to be accessed again.

For its part, Twitter permanently suspended the 45th president’s account, citing breaches of its terms of service and fears that Trump might try to spark unrest.

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