Johnny
2021-01-10 14:16:31 UTC
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PermalinkPublished 13 hours ago
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny called Twitter’s ban of
President Trump an "unacceptable act of censorship" that could be
exploited by oppressive governments around the world.
Trump’s account @realdonaldtrump was banned by the social media giant
Friday following the president’s response to the Capitol riots this
week.
"In my opinion, the decision to ban Trump was based on emotions and
personal political preferences," Navalny wrote on Twitter.
He noted that the president had been writing "very irresponsible
things" on the platform, but paid for it by losing reelection.
"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
(not that I ask for it)," Navalny continued. He noted that
"cold-blooded murderers" like Russian President Vladimir Putin and
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro are allowed on the platform.
Navalny, the most visible opponent of Putin, was flown to Germany two
days after falling ill Aug. 20 on a domestic flight in Russia. Labs
determined that he was exposed to a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent,
and Navalny has since maintained that agents of Putin tried to poison
him.
Navalny said there were plenty of examples of private companies such as
Twitter becoming Russia and China's "best friends" and honoring
censorship requests.
"This precedent will be exploited by the enemies of freedom of speech
around the world. In Russia as well," said the Russian dissident.
"Every time when they need to silence someone, they will say: 'This is
just common practice, even Trump got blocked on Twitter'."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/navalny-trump-twitter-ban-exploited-enemies-of-free-speech