On Saturday President Trump wondered out loud on Twitter, as he often does, whether or not Twitter will ax the New York Times and The Washington Post Twitter accounts when the company purges "fake" accounts.
Trump tweeted:
"Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace. Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don’t exist - They will both be out of business in 7 years!"
Twitter is getting rid of fake accounts at a record pace. Will that include the Failing New York Times and propaganda machine for Amazon, the Washington Post, who constantly quote anonymous sources that, in my opinion, don’t exist - They will both be out of business in 7 years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 7, 2018
Twitter has increased their effort to get rid of fake accounts on their platform recently. During May and June he company suspended more than 70 million accounts. This is according to a report from the Washington Post that was published on Friday.
Since October the rate at which accounts are suspended has doubled. This is since the company was facing serious scrutiny over the possibility of Russian trolls manipulating the 2016 election.
President Trump has went back to slamming the media in the last few days. This was just after he condemned the attack in Annapolis, Maryland at a newspaper.
More, per The Hill:
"I see the way they write. They're so damn dishonest," Trump said during a campaign-style rally in Montana on Thursday night.
"And I don't mean all of them, because some of the finest people I know are journalists really. Hard to believe when I say that. I hate to say it, but I have to say it. But 75 percent of those people are downright dishonest. Downright dishonest. They're fake. They're fake."
The suspect in last week's shooting, 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos, had a long-running dispute with the Maryland paper over a column about a criminal harassment charge against him. He has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
Trump had condemned the attack last week, saying, “Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job."
It's very unlikely these two newspapers' Twitter accounts will be purged, but President Trump did what he intended to do. Stir the pot and cast shade at the "fake news" publications he is constantly taking on.
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