Donald Trump Block Shows Twitter ‘Must Not Like Democracy,’ Says Parler CEO John Matze

BY JASON MURDOCK ON 1/8/21 AT 10:21 AM ESTAdvertisement 0:29https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.433.1_en.html#goog_1429348907SHARETECH & SCIENCE DONALD TRUMP TWITTER

The CEO of Parler, a social media platform favored by conservatives, has said Twitter‘s blocking of Donald Trump suggests it “must not like democracy.”

John Matze—who co-founded the website in 2018—made the comment on Thursday in response to the president’s daughter, Tiffany Trump, who shared a statement released by her father that pledged an “orderly transition” to Joe Biden later this month.

Trump’s statement was issued on Thursday via the White House communications chief Dan Scavino as the president was facing a 12-hour Twitter block for policy-breaking posts made as his supporters stormed the Capitol Building on Wednesday.

“What ever happened to freedom of speech?” Tiffany Trump wrote on Parler, attracting thousands of comments and shares, including from Matze, who has repeatedly pitched his platform as a “free speech” alternative to mainstream social networks.NEWSWEEK SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS >

“You won’t find it on the Twitters with all those bird brains in charge,” Matze replied to the president’s daughter in a comment, adding: “They are not a platform but a publisher. They don’t want free speech and as a byproduct they must not like democracy… we must liberate ourselves from their manipulation and dystopian tactics of control.”https://parler.com/post/f0f633744a6e4f1d8cfbf949d2b2ac9a

It was the latest criticism against his more-established rival. Matze said earlier this week the decision to block Trump had been made by “cowardly authoritarians.”

The president’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were each blocked on Wednesday after he used them to post false claims of election fraud and publish a video message that described the rioters as “special” and included the phrase “we love you.”NEWSWEEK SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS >https://frontend.1worldonline.com/widget/smart3-d09641f5.html#!/widget/414ca465-64ed-4713-81d6-53334bd3c4c8&type=widget&mode=smart3&code=414ca465-64ed-4713-81d6-53334bd3c4c8&token=414ca465-64ed-4713-81d6-53334bd3c4c8-1&location=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fdonald-trump-parler-ceo-john-matze-twitter-block-demoracy-free-speech-1560018

The video was pulled from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as the Capitol Building siege continued. Trump’s Twitter was restored on Thursday following a 12-hour timeout, but the site warned that future violations would result in a permanent suspension.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1346970431039934464&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Fdonald-trump-parler-ceo-john-matze-twitter-block-demoracy-free-speech-1560018&siteScreenName=newsweek&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px

This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Trump’s page was blocked “indefinitely,” or for at “least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

Facing political pressure and the threat of another impeachment, Trump returned to his Twitter on Thursday and posted a scripted video that called the Capitol attack “heinous” and said that the people responsible “do not represent” the country.

Despite multiple family members being active on Parler, President Trump himself does not appear to have created an account on the platform at the time of writing.READ MORE

Matze said in a separate comment on Thursday that America is “already lost” if speech has to be restricted or censored in order to keep the country safe.

He wrote: “If one man’s voice is a threat to our nation but his holding of the presidential office is not, then it is apparent the powers of the presidency are less powerful than a single voice. Why should any of us settle [for] giving up our rights to free speech?”