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USC expert says Facebook/Twitter Trump suspensions ‘about time’

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Donald Trump [Wiki]
LOS ANGELES – The permanent suspension of President Donald Trump‘s Twitter account, following rioting by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol, should have taken place long ago, a USC professor said Friday.

“It’s about time,” said Manuel Pastor, director of the USC Equity Research Institute and a professor of sociology at the university. “For the last four years it’s been a problem, especially since the election. A percentage of his tweets had to be stamped with a notification that the messages were misleading, and while Twitter had its reasons for saying that his tweets that were not true were (still) newsworthy, the extent of the lying and the fanning of flames has been truly dangerous.

“So it’s not a surprise,” Pastor said. “It should have happened a while ago — much like the widespread revulsion against Trump.”

Twitter announced that Trump’s account was permanently suspended “due to the risk of further incitement for violence” on Friday afternoon, two days after his inflammatory tweets were blamed for inciting a violent siege of the Capitol that left five people  dead, including a Capitol police officer.

The suspension comes a day after Trump was barred from using Facebook for the remainder of his term. Also Friday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that the House would move to impeach Trump next week over his role in inciting the violent mob attack if he did not resign “immediately.”

“The morning he was elected, I came to work and was asked by staff for some words of context and history, and I said, ‘Well, I think it’s going to get worse than you think.’ And I’ve been proved quite right,” Pastor said. “There is nothing about what took place Wednesday that was not predictable.”

Pastor said that “a person that is reckless enough to be banned from Twitter should not have the nuclear codes — or other presidential powers. So there is a legitimate desire for Trump to be out of power quickly.”

Impeachment would reflect “legitimate concerns with Trump remaining in power — and a desire to state for the record that his behavior was not appropriate for someone who holds that office,” the professor said. Such a move may not be advantageous for Democrats, Pastor said, because “it could inflame moderates and their Republican base. But I don’t think it’s being done for political advantage. There are legitimate concerns.”

Trump released a statement Friday evening that was quickly removed from his Twitter page but later disseminated to the White House press pool, in which he blasted the platform, saying it “is not about free speech. They are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely,” he said.

“As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me,” he said. “Twitter may be a private company, but without the government’s gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long. I predicted this would happen. We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED!”

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50 comments for "USC expert says Facebook/Twitter Trump suspensions ‘about time’"

  1. Trump lost the election.

    Trump lost his Twitter account. Facebook too.

    Trump lost the PGA event at his golf resort.

    Trump killed the Republican Party. Major companies aren’t going to donate to it.

    Trump lost his mind. (That should have been at the top of the list.)

    Trump will lose millions in attorney fees the next few years as they rush to cash in on his defense weak as it will be.

    Melania is going blonde so she’s looking to an ex-wife soon and angling for another meal ticket.

    Ivanka won’t be running for president. What was she thinking?

    How long will Kimberly Guilfoyle stay with Don Jr. now that the family has been thrown to the curb by the American voters?

    This was all predictable and inevitable starting in 2016. Is anyone surprised by the flaming dumpster disaster that the Trump presidency has turned out to be?

    His pathetic little minions keep trying to salvage his a$$ while making further fools of themselves.

    It’s all good. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving klan of filthy, rotten, corrupt sociopaths.

    The only thing left for them is prison.

    • Prison? Maybe he’ll tag along with all the blm bums that did it all worse and some. But you probably dont see it because your head is still stuck in osama… I mean Obamas keister. While you’re in there, have you seen the keys to the white house? Kamalas gonna need them when slippery Joe makes an excuse to resign midterm. One thing I’ve learned about democrats is that you can always win by defaults if you’re desperate enough.

    • Do you really think a false opposite would ever change minds of those who feel you’ve cheated them out of their vote? You’ve just underlined our resolve you people are devoid principle, that you cannot be entrusted to represent anyone.

  4. Looks like the trolls who can’t read Trump’s tweets are coming here, there and everywhere.

    Now, we can see their insanity without having to go to right wing sites.

  5. Maxine Waters should be sent to a Prison Labor Camp. What about her inciting violence? She got people to go out and harass Republicans. BIG DOUBLE STANDARD!!!!!

  6. Yes, it is about time. It took the murder of a Capitol police officer, and the violence that we witnessed along with watching thieves take selfies and steal. All of this incited by Trump, and his backers are guilty as well for not speaking out against him years ago.

    • There were 307 police officers killed in the line of duty in 2020; Reform, are you asking that we ban BLM rallies because of the hundreds of dead police officers???

      There were months of rioting and looting over the summer of 2020; Reform, are you calling for the shut-down of BLM gatherings and protests because of all of the rioting, stealing, and burning?

      Should Twitter and Facebook ban BLM for inciting violence against businesses and against police officers?

    • 307 police officers died in the line of duty in 2020. Should BLM and Antifa be held responsible? Should they be removed from Twitter and Facebook?

  7. Original thought no longer required, truth here in America is arbitrarily determined, by Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg.

    • In the process of taking down President Trump, the CIA overcooked their election rigging op, splitting the Republican party into so many discrete factions, never again can it be fused; never again can it regain parity, to its democrat counterpart. Democrats are going to run the White House, the next 100 years.

      • And, that’s a good thing.

        The Republicans are a minority party that has captured the 3 branches of government from time to time by gerrymandering and cheating with voter suppression.

        They complain about the state of the union when they “own” a majority of the state legislatures and governorships. If there’s any responsibility for how the country has gone downhill. it is colored “orange” on the map.

        The Democratic Party has enough factions to serve as 1 party anyway so what’s the problem.

      • “Democrats are going to run the White House, the next 100 years.”

        Thank God! After witnessing you and your trumplican traitors attempt to dismantle and rebel against the United States of America, you should NEVER have any type of power again… not even as just a hall monitor!

    • … in case you haven’t noticed? Nancy Pelosi is hopelessly conflicted over her secret inner-desire, of President Trump. Sexual tension she experiences whensoever he’s near is palpable; well beyond her control. She wants him to do her. And, she detests herself, over that. Emotionally out-of-control, Nancy Pelosi is compelled beyond her capacity to resist, abusing her power of impeachment, in a desperate secret attempt to bring herself closer, to President Trump. She is twisted. Think of impeachment, as Nancy Pelosi’s secret fetish, of President Trump’s hair, realization of her deep, longstanding fantasy, dragging President Trump from the White House, by his hair –

  8. Our elections are rigged. Our vote is meaningless. Our mainstream media lies through its teeth. Twitter and Facebook are now de facto government agencies. The government in Washington DC no longer represents the United States of America. Nobody really knows who controls the thing.

    • And, yet, Bruce, not one of your doddering dunderheads can seem to come up with even one iota of even a HINT of EVIDENCE to show to ANYONE of these accusations… even after 60 cases, with many of those in front of your ‘OWN’ judges!

      Your vote is not meaningless, but your bullschnit accusations of rigging are.

  9. Let us all take a moment of silence to honor fallen twitter accounts that were silenced by butthurt socialists. Like most butthurt buttheads do, they’ll silence you all too if you let em….. As if paper and pencils don’t exist anymore. Eff twitter and facebunk.

  10. Coming from a brown hispanol. Its time for you to display “chivalry” in your place of origin. Its so easy to flex balls outside your country aint it? “So its not a suprise”. Phhtttt!!! Cut it out with the Christian Witchcraft will ya….. Lol keep feeding the beast via internet. Keep making people laugh good. Love it. Funny stuff.

  11. … he is not the Lone Ranger. The most extensive, complicated cover-up in world history, it’s not just President Trump. It’s his entire support structure the Silicon Valley people are singling-out and silencing.

    • It’s true. The evening of the electoral college, Yahoo toggled off all on-line commenting from its news site. Every interactive conservative news site on the information superhighway was externally destabilized.

    • For Granny, no evidence of widespread election fraud must mean there was widespread election fraud.

      Think about that and pray that Granny has some assisted living help. She’s gone over the edge.

    • … Democrats are consolidating power, crowding out moderates and conservatives. In hope of subverting this local AV Times site, into a far-left echo chamber, they are desperate to deflect attention, from the slightest hint of election rigging –

  14. … apparently, I was under the misunderstanding AV Times was an objective, unbiased publication. Nobody wants to be where we’re unwanted. If the good people here at the AV Times are determined to slant a democrat narrative, then bless your hearts. So be it. We’re happy buzzing off, leaving you as we found you. We’ll not bother you, again –

    • Sooooo understandable. William/Dave/Stinger is a Chinese internet troll bot who patrols this site to unleash venom any any dissenting viewpoint. That has ruined it for everyone except woke communists.

      • Ni Hao, botboy! As usual, you’re wrong.

        Personally, I ain’t all that fond of all of that woke crud. But I am even LESS fond of lying traitors and those that are dumb enough to keep following them.

        FYI, I may use a nom de plume for protection of my privacy, just as you do, but I do keep it the same nom de plume for consistency. I see no need to pretend to be somebody else.

        Now, back to the fun, shall we?

        • Dave, Stinger, William, Matt, Mike and Fred are all the same communist bot and a lyin’ sack of schnitt.

          • Gotcha, lil botboy! You’re starting to use my terms already! Keep reading and you might learn a few things… Although, I doubt that you are capable of such a thing, being a botboy.

            Now, then… since you like to use the term so much, can you actually define what communism is? Then, try to explain where, if anywhere, I have espoused such a ridiculous form of government… Good luck, since there are no such espousements to be found.

            We now return you to your regularly scheduled rantings of trumplican lunatics.

            As for the different names… obviously pure projections, based upon your own inability to remember your own.

          • FYI Stinger; all the comments that use the words communist, socialist, woke, traitors, etc. all come from Trumpist#1. he has a composition book full of screen names but he definitely has a pattern. He also calls himself a patriot.

          • Tell us about the lies. Are they made up like “election fraud” and Trump is a great president?

            Come on. If we lied tell us so we can acknowledge it and make the correction unlike y’all who lie and then lie about lying.

          • Trumpist#1 went into hiding before the election cause he knew he and Trump would lose the debate and the election.

            Now, he’s a bunch of silly aliases but the stench of his thinking can be noticed in every one of his “Trumpist#1” posts.

            You can’t hide stupid Trumpist try as you might.

      • Matt, Dave , William and Stinger hate our country and are the same Chinese communist bot spreading hate and dissension to destroy America and do Communist Party bidding.

        They must be paid by CCP . How can they work at jobs if they patrol this site 24 hours a day to spew communist propaganda?

        • If Trump tries to pardon himself, it will be interesting to hear what he has to say about the notion of pardoning himself days and weeks before the insurrection at Capital Hill that he incited. Yes, he did.

          That can’t go over well in the courts.

        • Pure projection. Exactly what to expect of trumplican nazis.

          Simply reverse the entire post and it makes much more sense.

        • Democrats have gone berserk, desperate to deflect attention from their election rigging folly –

    • It’s typical media in this day and age. It is partisan hackery in its more basic form. Where is the “evidence” beyond a single person’s opinion?