President Trump warned social media giants Wednesday that the federal government could “strongly regulate” or “close them down” if they continue to “silence conservative voices,” amid a flaring battle with Twitter after the platform fact-checked one of his tweets for the first time this week. “Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices,” Trump tweeted. “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen. We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016. We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that happen again.” The president added: “Just like we can’t let large scale Mail-In Ballots take root in our Country. It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots. Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!” It is unclear what authority, if any, the president was citing in his threat to close social media platforms down, but the tweets surely were meant to escalate pressure on the platform that hosted them. He later tweeted: “Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!” This comes after Twitter slapped a warning label on one of Trump’s tweets referring to mail-in ballots for the first time Tuesday, cautioning readers that despite the president’s claims, “fact checkers” say there is “no evidence” that mail-in voting would increase fraud risks and that “experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud.” The president, within minutes on Tuesday, accused Twitter of “interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post,” while adding that the platform is “completely stifling FREE SPEECH,” and vowing that “I, as President, will not allow that to happen.” (AP)

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