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Comment by rofo1 | Hacker News Reader

Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter. They didn't seem to have a problem with this. It's interesting how the brainwashing works: they always find a reason for whatever they do. "Empathy", "sympathy", "compassion" for whatever evil they do. "We are protecting innocent people from the Dangerous Thoughts".

When other groups do it to them, then they cry in the media in which they control.

The solution is simple: we should not censor free speech. IT WILL be turned against you. This should be a principled position, not one that depends on whether you like one party or another party...

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Twitter and Facebook locked Trump's account because he committed policy violations while actively inciting an insurrection after having lost the presidential election. Regardless of the actions of private companies, I also believe that inciting violent treason is not covered under the First Amendment.

I'm not sure what similar argument can be made about the #Democrat hashtag, though. As far as I know, nothing actually happened that would warrant any restrictions on the hashtag.

> Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter

For misinformation and inciting violence. Not because of his politics.

The above is a proven factual statement that has been downvoted due to tribal politics.

Very sad to see, and indicative of the poor state of political discourse.

If Democrats can incite violence and post information with impunity, yet Republicans get fact-checked out the wazoo (by Democrats, no less!) ... it's very hard for us to take the claim that this wasn't "because of his politics".

I didn't agree with the Trump ban and a lot of other "content moderation" (which affected the left wing too).

But in the case of Trump he was banned due to the incitement of violence/revolt in the Capitol Hill incident and the attempts to overturn election results.

Look at Clinton and Pelosi’s tweets when Trump won the first term. They also challenged the result and claimed it was a manipulated election.

May 16th 2017 Nancy Pelosi tweeted to her massive following “ Our election was hijacked. There is no question. Congress has a duty to #ProtectOurDemocracy & #FollowTheFacts.”

Does that mean she was removed from social media for “inciting revolt”? No, of course not.

Trump’s tweets on the day of the Capitol riot were to demand people behave peacefully and respect the rule of law.

Yet he was banned without appeal.

Consider that the differing results in each situation led to different actions taken.

In only one case was there an insurrection supported (as evidenced by pardons) by the tweeter.

First off, it's now clear from the evidence that the "insurrection" was the FBI working hard to entrap all the people they could, after everything was done to limit security on the day of the protest.

Secondly, the riots in Washington DC on Trump's first inauguration are rather pretty, the way the fires of businesses glowed in the night.

I'm really tired of pretending that somehow the Republicans are the "uncivil" ones, while the Democrats are perfectly innocent, and wouldn't harm a fly.

Pelosi didn't question the election results or call for their overturning. It was about the claims about foreign influence, which was later used to build the narrative for impeachment.

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