Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist banned from Facebook and Twitter, believes President Trump should ditch both social media platforms because of alleged anti-conservative bias.
Speaking ahead of Mr. Trump signing an executive order pertaining to social media services, Ms. Loomer said Thursday she would prefer to see the president stop posting on either of the leading platforms and instead switch to lesser-known competitors she considers to be more accepting of fellow conservatives.
“What I would honestly like to see, and what I think would be effective, is for the president to leave Twitter and to leave Facebook and to stop spending money on Facebook ads and instead come over to sites like Parler and Gab,” Ms. Loomer told The Washington Times.
“I believe that President Trump himself could issue the final death blow to Twitter as their most popular user and the most talked-about user, if he said that he was sick and tired of the censorship and he was going to be posting on Parler and Gab instead,” said Ms. Loomer. “Because everybody would have to then move over to these new pro-free-speech platforms that aren’t censoring people for their political speech.”
Ms. Loomer, a self-described “poster child for censorship and Big Tech tyranny in America,” spoke to The Times about subjects including social media services amid an escalating dispute involving Mr. Trump and Twitter, the president’s preferred platform, in addition to topics including her campaign for the congressional seat currently held by Rep. Lois Frankel, Florida Democrat.
Twitter on Tuesday flagged a pair of Mr. Trump’s recent posts about voting by mail as misleading and added warning labels effectively fact-checking claims contained in the tweets. Mr. Trump responded on Twitter by accusing the company of “completely stifling FREE SPEECH” and said his administration will regulate or shutter social media platforms in lieu of letting them “totally silence conservative voices.” The White House has since announced Mr. Trump will sign an executive order pertaining to social media later Thursday.
“This is something that should have been addressed years ago and it hasn’t,” Ms. Loomer, 27, said about the executive order. “It’s great that the president is finally taking action. But, unfortunately, Republicans for the last few years have really not taken this issue seriously,” she added.
Ms. Loomer had more than 260,000 followers on Twitter before she was permanently suspended from the service in late 2017 for repeatedly violating the platform’s policies. She subsequently remained active on Facebook and its sister service, Instagram, until she was booted from both in 2019 under new rules banning individuals deemed “dangerous,” placing her in the same category as Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and Infowars publisher Alex Jones, and among others.
Internet companies other than those running social networks have banned Ms. Loomer as well. Uber and Lyft each shut down her accounts in late 2017 after she complained about Muslims driving for either ride-sharing service, and PayPal cut ties with her in early 2019 after finding she ran afoul of the firm’s “core values.”
Ms. Loomer has claimed she has been the victim of political censorship, meanwhile, and she has sued several top tech companies for allegedly discriminating against conservatives.
Her efforts to sue for being banned from Facebook and Twitter have failed so far, however, evidenced most recently by a federal appeals court in D.C. ruling against her Wednesday.
Nonetheless, Ms. Loomer told The Times that she has raised her concerns with the Trump administration since practically the start of the president’s term in office.
“I definitely have been submitting my input and evidence of anti-conservative bias to the White House over the last three years,” Ms. Loomer told The times.
Ms. Loomer added that her input likely made its way to Mr. Trump, pointing out that the president has twice shared posts on Twitter supportive of her congressional campaign.
She also noted that Mr. Trump is likely to cast a ballot for her in November since he is registered to vote in the Florida district where she is running as a Republican.
“I am going to be the nominee. I’m on track to win my race and President Trump will be voting for me because this is his race,” Ms. Loomer told The Times.
“I guess when I win, and I’m going to win, I’ll be the only member of Congress who is banned on all social media,” Ms. Loomer added.
The White House did not immediately return a message requesting comment.
Speaking after signing the executive order Thursday afternoon, Mr. Trump said he would be willing to stop using Twitter “in a heartbeat” if he was treated better by the press and didn’t need an outlet “to refute fake news.”
“There is nothing I’d rather do than get rid of my whole Twitter account,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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