U.S. Sen. Steve Daines called Twitter's Friday ban of President Donald Trump "censorship," and demanded in a letter to the social media giant that the account be reinstated.
Daines, a Montana Republican and Trump ally, said the move to ban a public official from the platform eliminates Americans' access to important information and hinders their ability to communicate with their elected representatives.
"The President of the United States is the leader of the free world and his ability to reach the people and communicate important events and actions should not be censored. The removal of his account and his ability to communicate on your platform limits the government’s ability to inform its citizens. Further, it divides the nation and alienates the millions of voters who supported the President in the 2016 and 2020 elections. This action could bring about further division and unrest, which is opposite of the stated intentions for his removal," Daines wrote in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Big Tech censoring @realdonaldtrump & the free speech of American citizens is on par with communist countries like China & North Korea.
— Steve Daines (@SteveDaines) January 9, 2021
This is a slippery slope that the United States must not go down. We must protect our most precious right as American citizens, not censor it.
Twitter announced the ban earlier Friday, saying the president had violated Twitter's rules by using the site to incite violence at the U.S. Capitol Building.
