White House asks users to report Google's political biases, Twitter and Facebook

The White House on Wednesday intensified its war against Silicon Valley by announcing an unprecedented campaign asking Internet users to share if they were censored on Facebook, Google, and Twitter, taking advantage of the long-standing claim of the President Trump that the tech giants have a bias against the Conservatives.

The effort, which the White House said on Twitter, was aimed at users "no matter what their point of view," seeking to collect names, contact information and other details from Americans. The investigation asks if they have encountered problems on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter or other Google-owned social media sites – businesses that the president frequently targets in the event of alleged political censorship.

The survey states that "too many Americans have had their accounts suspended, banned or fraudulently reported due to indefinite" violations "of user policies.

The White House has also asked users for permission to send new electronic newsletters on "President Trump's fight for freedom of expression", so that the "administration" can to update you without resorting to platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. " The president is a prolific user of Twitter, which regularly blows his political thoughts to more than 60 million followers on the site.

The Trump administration refused Wednesday to tackle what it planned to do with the data it accumulates, especially if it is to regulate social media platforms. "The White House wants to hear all Americans – regardless of their political leanings – they've been influenced by social media biases," Judd Deere spokesman said in a statement.

For their part, Facebook, Google and Twitter have long denied using political censorship. Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comments. In a statement, Twitter pointed out that it applies its rules "impartially to all users, regardless of their origin or political affiliation."

The new online campaign marks Trump's latest attack on the technology industry, which he has threatened to regulate in response to allegations that corporations are censoring users and right-wing websites. Trump's failures resonated among the top echelons of the Republican Party, which toasted technical officials during multiple congressional hearings and used the fodder for fundraising campaign.

But the White House salvo comes the same day it decided not to support an international campaign to crack down on hate speech and other forms of online extremism. The Trump administration has not approved the call of Christchurch, the name of a New Zealand city where an attacker inspired by online hate killed 51 people, claiming that the symbolic pact was against the guarantees of freedom of expression set out in the Constitution.

[Trump met with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey — and complained about his follower count]

In its new online campaign, the White House form asks Internet users to indicate whether Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or others have "taken action against your account", and asked for user names or names. links to user profiles or specific publications, including tweets, likely to have been reported by any of the technology companies. The White House has also asked to see copies of the notifications sent to users by social media sites when they take action against their publications, photos or videos.

The investigation immediately triggered widespread criticism. Freedom of expression advocates feared that the White House would try to curb online rhetoric, while consumer groups were questioning whether the president's threats could deter Silicon Valley companies from controlling their platforms while they sought to dismiss allegations of political bias.

"This misguided White House effort raises serious constitutional issues and could hamper platforms' ability to moderate their platforms and remove such content," said John Bergmayer, lead counsel for Public Knowledge, a consumer group based in New York. California.

Alex Howard, a longtime open government advocate who previously worked at the Sunlight Foundation, regretted that the administration is using "the resources of official taxpayers, [and] the official account of the White House "for his new campaign, which, he said, seeks to" create data, create a list of cases, to support the theory of the president's plot ".

Trump has become particularly critical of Silicon Valley in recent weeks, after Facebook announced this month that it has banned some far right leaders, including site-affiliated users. Infowars plot theory Internet, for fear of becoming "dangerous". Twitter to voice its grievances, promising to "monitor" the industry for its "censorship of US citizens".

Often, however, the incidents cited by Trump as evidence that the technology industry is targeting the Conservatives have been inaccurate or misleading. Last month, for example, Trump accused Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at a private meeting of silencing the Conservatives and secretly dismissing some of his supporters. In fact, the number of subscribers often varies due to Twitter's efforts to remove fake accounts or fraudulent accounts.

It is not uncommon for the White House – under Trump or his predecessors – to turn to the Web to mobilize supporters or gather stories to advance political priorities. The Obama administration has regularly exploited social media for information. However, Republican critics have sometimes sharply criticized the work of the former Democratic president, including an attempt in 2009 to collect misleading messages at the very beginning of the health care reform debate.

Ten years later, while Trump embarked on his own controversial data collection effort, a White House veteran pointed to hypocrisy.

"It's consistent with their strategy to use every possible tactic to sow more mistrust, confusion and division than to try to give clear information about the president's agenda and policies," said Macon Phillips. , former director of Obama's digital strategy.