Why did they shut down Donald Trump's blog in the US?
The blog "will not return," Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNBC. However, this could mean the return of the former president to social networks.
Former US President Donald Trump has terminated his blog, an adviser announced on Wednesday, suggesting that the Republican is preparing to reappear him on social networks after being expelled from the platforms for spreading false information about an alleged electoral fraud. The blog "will not return," Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNBC.
Titled "From the desk of Donald J. Trump", the blog had been launched just a month ago, following the decisions of Twitter and Facebook to block the former president for having incited the rebellion against the electoral victory of now president Joe Biden. Miller told CNBC that the blog had been "only auxiliary" in efforts to rebuild Trump's presence on social media, although he assured that he "had no precise knowledge of when" that would happen.
Miller later reacted on Twitter to the suggestion that the blog's disappearance was a preparation for Trump to join some other social media platform: “Yes, indeed, it is. Pay attention". The blog on the website donaldjtrump.com had been touted as a major new platform following Trump's defeat in the November election and the punishment of major social media sites for stirring up a mob that attacked Congress on January 6.
Fox News advertised the blog - which was in fact a tab where Trump could post his remarks - as a "communication platform." Trump's own website described the blog in even grander terms, calling it "a beacon of freedom" in a "time of silence and lies."
Trump, also banned on Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat after the Capitol chaos, continues to promote the theory that the 2020 elections were stolen from him. In angry e-mailed statements and in interviews with right-wing outlets such as OAN, as well as Fox News, he continues to claim without evidence that he was the victim of a conspiracy.
Now, instead of his blog tab, a form appears that allows you to register to receive alerts of statements from the former president.
Suspension on Facebook
In early May, Facebook's independent oversight panel decided to uphold the veto imposed by Facebook on the former US president, calling for a review of that measure in the next six months.
The board, whose decisions are binding on the social network, said that Trump created an environment that gave rise to "a serious risk of violence" with his comments about the violent attack on the United States Capitol by his followers on 6 May. January, some of them armed.
"Given the seriousness of the violations and the persistent risk of violence, Facebook was justified in suspending Trump's accounts on January 6 and extending that suspension on January 7," the panel said after its review.
Regarding the decision, Trump indicated that it is an "absolute shame" that the internet giants institutionalize online restrictions. "What Facebook, Twitter and Google have done is an absolute shame and an embarrassment for our country," said the businessman through a statement, adding that US voters will not support such limitation of freedom to express themselves on the Internet.
"We take away the freedom of expression from the president of the United States because the madmen on the radical left are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and more powerful than ever," Trump added, referring to to his unfounded allegations of fraud in the US presidential election that he lost in November 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden.
