Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin gives his take on the recent Twitter censorship battle involving U.S. President Donald Trump. He expressed his statements after Twitter soft-censored Trump on grounds of inciting violence.
According to Buterin,
“I’ve talked before about the rise of corporations regulating governments but here we have Twitter soft-censoring the U.S. president on the grounds of incitement of violence…this is a major escalation and could be a new chapter in relations between corporations and states,”
Buterin stated that he does not support provoking violence. He called for social media designs that naturally create selection pressures which favor positive content, and do so in a way that’s neutral.Â
In reference to the recent riots sparked by the murder of American, George Floyd, Trump had made a tweet which stated,
“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”Â
Twitter flagged the tweet, citing a breach of the platform’s rules. Many users on the platform are divided on the reaction of the social media giant to the tweets of Trump.Â
Some users claim that the action sets the precedent for heightened levels of censorship on the platform while others believed the action to be justifiable considering the circumstances surrounding the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was kiled by a white officer that knelt on his kneck with his hands in his pockets.
Many users on Twitter worry that Trump’s statement, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” could cause more killings of black Americans who are protesting in Minneapolis, the city where a white officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed black male.
