Republicans in one NC county go dark on social media to protest sites banning Trump

Mark Price

The Cabarrus County Republican Party says it has gone dark on social media as part of a protest against the “heavy-handed moderation practices” of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Party leaders announced the blackout Saturday and said it will be in place for 30 days.

The move comes as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have taken action to block or permanently ban President Donald Trump in the wake of a deadly insurrection Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol.

Twitter said the decision was made “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

Some Republicans and free speech advocates have criticized the bans, among them Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina who said “the Ayatollah can tweet, but Trump can’t.”

“Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others have become increasingly authoritarian in the enforcement of their community standards,” the Cabarrus County Republican Party said in a statement posted Saturday on its website.

“Their heavy-handed moderation practices are disproportionately employed against conservative voices. We understand the need to restrict illegal activity on social media platforms, but we stand in solidarity with those who have been unfairly targeted.”

Facebook and Instagram put a block on President Trump’s account Thursday and Twitter permanently banned him Friday, with the latter saying the decision was made “in the context of horrific events this week.”

Five people died as a result of Wednesday’s riot, including a Capitol police officer and a woman who was shot by police. Three others suffered “medical emergencies,” officials have said.

Some people, including Twitter executives, have blamed Trump’s social media posts in which he disputed the election results for inciting the riot.

“Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open,” Twitter said in a statement.

“However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things,“ Twitter said.

Some Republican leaders around the country have complained the social media conglomerates are targeting conservative voices.

In a tweet, Graham said the social media bans made him “more determined than ever to strip” protections for big technology companies.

“Big Tech are the only companies in America that virtually have absolute immunity from being sued for their actions, and it’s only because Congress gave them that protection,” Graham said.

In its message, the Cabarrus County Republican Party also criticized “companies like Facebook and Twitter.”

“By withholding our content from these services for one month, we hope that you will have fewer interruptions to your day and will spend less time looking at social media apps,” the group said.

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