06-27-2019, 09:59 PM
The White House will host “digital leaders” for a meeting next month amid President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on Google, Facebook and Twitter.
The Social Media Summit set for July 11 will focus on the “opportunities and challenges of today’s online environment,” White House spokesperson Judd Deere said.
Deere did not answer questions about who is invited to the event.
The announcement came the same day Trump said the federal government should file lawsuits against some of the tech giants. The president has accused Google, Facebook and Twitter of being biased against him and other conservatives — a charge the companies have repeatedly denied.
"Look, we should be suing Google and Facebook and all that, which, perhaps we will," Trump said during a phone interview on Fox Business.
Trump has suggested the internet companies may run afoul of federal antitrust laws and floated possible enforcement action against them. Earlier this month, he suggested U.S. regulators should levy massive fines against the tech giants, saying “obviously there is something going on in terms of monopoly” in the sector.
The president in his Fox interview also swiped at Twitter, claiming without evidence that "they make it very hard” for people to follow his personal account and for him to “get out the message.” Trump is a prolific tweeter, frequently using the platform to bash his political opponents and disseminate his message.
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"What they did to me on Twitter’s incredible. I have millions and millions of followers, but I will tell you they make it very hard for people to join me on Twitter," he said. "If I announced tomorrow that I’m going to become a nice liberal Democrat, I would pick up five times more followers."
A Twitter spokesperson reiterated that many prominent users have seen their follower counts drop due to the company's ongoing crackdown on bots and fake accounts. Google also denied any bias, with a spokesperson saying, "We build our products with extraordinary care and safeguards to be a trustworthy source of information for everyone, without any regard for political viewpoint."
Facebook declined to comment on Trump's remarks.
Trump's mounting grievances come as antitrust officials at both the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission turn their focus to the dominant role the tech giants play in the economy and daily life. Reports emerged in recent weeks that the DOJ will take the lead on potential antitrust probes of Google and Apple, while the FTC will handle Facebook and Amazon. Neither agency has announced an antitrust investigation, but the arrangement can be the first step toward such an effort.
Both Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have held individual meetings with Trump at the White House this year. After each, the president tweeted that the meeting had gone well. He and Pichai "discussed political fairness and various things that @Google can do for our Country," while the Dorsey meeting saw "[l]ots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general," he said.
Representatives of Facebook and Twitter declined to comment on the White House summit, and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the event. If the tech companies are invited, it could force them to make a painful choice between subjecting themselves to a lashing by Trump and other conservatives, or staying away and risking blowback for snubbing the president.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/2...it-1383280
The Social Media Summit set for July 11 will focus on the “opportunities and challenges of today’s online environment,” White House spokesperson Judd Deere said.
Deere did not answer questions about who is invited to the event.
The announcement came the same day Trump said the federal government should file lawsuits against some of the tech giants. The president has accused Google, Facebook and Twitter of being biased against him and other conservatives — a charge the companies have repeatedly denied.
"Look, we should be suing Google and Facebook and all that, which, perhaps we will," Trump said during a phone interview on Fox Business.
Trump has suggested the internet companies may run afoul of federal antitrust laws and floated possible enforcement action against them. Earlier this month, he suggested U.S. regulators should levy massive fines against the tech giants, saying “obviously there is something going on in terms of monopoly” in the sector.
The president in his Fox interview also swiped at Twitter, claiming without evidence that "they make it very hard” for people to follow his personal account and for him to “get out the message.” Trump is a prolific tweeter, frequently using the platform to bash his political opponents and disseminate his message.
Morning Tech
Technology news from Washington and Silicon Valley — weekday mornings, in your inbox.
By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
"What they did to me on Twitter’s incredible. I have millions and millions of followers, but I will tell you they make it very hard for people to join me on Twitter," he said. "If I announced tomorrow that I’m going to become a nice liberal Democrat, I would pick up five times more followers."
A Twitter spokesperson reiterated that many prominent users have seen their follower counts drop due to the company's ongoing crackdown on bots and fake accounts. Google also denied any bias, with a spokesperson saying, "We build our products with extraordinary care and safeguards to be a trustworthy source of information for everyone, without any regard for political viewpoint."
Facebook declined to comment on Trump's remarks.
Trump's mounting grievances come as antitrust officials at both the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission turn their focus to the dominant role the tech giants play in the economy and daily life. Reports emerged in recent weeks that the DOJ will take the lead on potential antitrust probes of Google and Apple, while the FTC will handle Facebook and Amazon. Neither agency has announced an antitrust investigation, but the arrangement can be the first step toward such an effort.
Both Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have held individual meetings with Trump at the White House this year. After each, the president tweeted that the meeting had gone well. He and Pichai "discussed political fairness and various things that @Google can do for our Country," while the Dorsey meeting saw "[l]ots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general," he said.
Representatives of Facebook and Twitter declined to comment on the White House summit, and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the event. If the tech companies are invited, it could force them to make a painful choice between subjecting themselves to a lashing by Trump and other conservatives, or staying away and risking blowback for snubbing the president.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/2...it-1383280
