The first amendment and social media

Claire Cranford - Sophomore | Opinions

On Jan. 6, Twitter announced that the company would be banning Donald Trump from his account. Soon thereafter, many of Trump’s supporters and major Republican authorities claimed that this was a violation of the First Amendment, specifically citing freedom of speech.

So, is it really a violation of free speech to ban one’s Twitter account?

First, we must understand what the First Amendment is and is not. It guarantees the right to free speech -- the right to speak your mind and articulate your thoughts without government intervention, punishment, or censorship. It does not obligate the press or any other platform to publish your speech.

Second, Twitter, along with most social media platforms, are privately owned companies. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s founder and CEO, controls the means of the company. This means that the government has very little control of the regulation of media that is posted on the site. The social platform owners are free to ban who they please as they see fit, in accordance with the terms and conditions.

“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around it, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence." said Twitter.

When you create an account on any social media, you sign the terms and conditions. While many of us do not read each rule, you still agree to follow them. If you do not, Twitter reserves the right to ban your account, as seen by Trump’s actions and consequent ban.

“We believe we have a responsibility to protect the integrity of those conversations from interference and manipulation,” Twitter writes in the Civic Integrity Policy of their rules. “Therefore, we prohibit attempts to use our services to manipulate or disrupt civic processes, including through the distribution of false or misleading information about the procedures or circumstances around participation in a civic process.”

In short, Trump violated Twitter’s terms and conditions, and this is his consequence.

So, no. Banning a Twitter account, regardless of who the account holder is, is not a violation of free speech. It is discipline at best.