By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Twitter has at least deleted five tweets made by President Donald Trump on the United States election. The tweets generally questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, mentioning Michigan’s vote count and “ballot dumps.”
The tech giant had announced before the election that it would crackdown on election misinformation, placing itself as a publisher rather than a platform.
By the laws that govern the internet space in the United States, and in most part of the world, social media companies are defined as platforms not publishers. The reason is because they don’t generate content, and are therefore protected from libelous suit, otherwise they will be sued out of existence.
But publishers, for instance like thenicheng.com regulate what is posted on its website, and hence liable to libelous suit.
There are however exceptions when these tech giants can pull down contents, especially if it is done in good faith, like preventing a paedophile from targeting children, or glorifying violence and other harmful contents.
What about perspectives like Trump alleging vote fraud? Was that in good faith or done out of bias?