Donald Trump

Trump Claims Twitter Is ‘Shadow Banning' Some Republicans, Calls It ‘Discriminatory and Illegal'

A spokesperson for Twitter denied that the company engages in shadow banning and said it is working to fix the problem of people not appearing in search boxes

President Donald Trump on Thursday ripped his favorite social media platform, criticizing Twitter for “shadow banning” Republicans, a vague accusation the commander-in-chief said was "discriminatory" and "illegal," NBC News reported.

“Twitter 'SHADOW BANNING' prominent Republicans. Not good,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints.”

“Shadow banning” is a term popular in conservative circles that refers to the idea that Twitter has quietly made the profiles and tweets of prominent conservative figures more difficult for users to see. Specifically, some people were not appearing in the autofill drop-down search function on the platform when users attempted to search for their profiles. Vice News reported on the issue this week. 

A spokesperson for Twitter said the company did not have anything to share about Trump’s tweet Thursday morning. However, the spokesperson did deny outright that the company engages in shadow banning, saying the company is working to fix the problem of people not appearing in the search box.

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