Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said he does not “accept” the censorship of US President Trump.
In a move of solidarity with President Trump after a fraught 4-year relationship, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has attacked American big tech for censoring the American President.
The left-wing leader said in a statement: “I don’t like anybody being censored or taking away from the right to post a message on Twitter or Face[book]. I don’t agree with that, I don’t accept that.”
“How can you censor someone: ‘Let’s see, I, as the judge of the Holy Inquisition, will punish you because I think what you’re saying is harmful,’” he continued. “Where is the law, where is the regulation, what are the norms? This is an issue of government, this is not an issue for private companies.”
Elsewhere, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is an anti-corruption activist and legal expert with over two million Twitter followers, has lambasted Twitter, saying:
“I think that the ban of Donald Trump on Twitter is an unacceptable act of censorship. Of course, during his time in the office, Trump has been writing and saying very irresponsible things. And paid for it by not getting re-elected for a second term.
“The election is a straightforward and competitive process. You can participate in it, you can appeal against the results, they’re being monitored by millions of people. The ban on Twitter is a decision of people we don’t know in accordance with a procedure we don’t know.
“In my opinion, the decision to ban Trump was based on emotions and personal political preferences. Don’t tell me he was banned for violating Twitter rules. I get death threats here every day for many years, and Twitter doesn’t ban anyone.”
“Among the people who have Twitter accounts are cold-blooded murderers (Putin or Maduro) and liars and thieves (Medvedev). And yet, it was Trump who got banned publicly and ostentatiously. Such selectivity indicates that this was an act of censorship.”
He went on to say that this move was similar to how the Russian state treats him and that companies like Twitter have become “best friends” and enablers of the Russian and Chinese states when it comes to matters of censorship.
He added this would set a precedent for other authoritarian regimes like Russian President Putin to silence critics or members of the opposition.
He suggested that tech companies set up a transparent and structured committee instead to deal with such issues.
