Analysis | Trump, social media and the First Amendment

After social media platforms banned Trump from creating content, he created his own website to sustain an online presence. Unsplash

Former President Donald Trump recently created his own social media platform after multiple websites — like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram — banned his accounts due to months of unfounded allegations of voter fraud and Trump’s refusal to accept his loss in the 2020 election. 

The platform, called Save America, functions similar to a blog and gives users the ability to like or share Trump’s content to Twitter or Facebook — ultimately circumventing his ban. However, users are not allowed to comment directly to Trump’s messages, which are short and mimic tweets.

Suzanne Lysak, a Chapman broadcast journalism professor, explained it's typical for former presidents to lose relevance after their term expires. But because Trump denies the election results, she said his attempts to remain prominent in the media manifested in his new online presence.

“The fact that you can’t respond to any of his comments but you can share them on your social media — that right there tells me a lot about what his agenda is with his new platform,” Lysak said. “It’s to continue support from his most loyal supporters and to influence the national political scene and Republican Party path.”

The posts can only be shared if they follow the outside platforms’ guidelines, but the bigger issue, some would argue, is that the new website is just another method for Trump to spread misinformation.

Trump even went as far to bash the platforms that banned him in a post this week.

“What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country,” Trump wrote May 5. “Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before.”

This post came in response to Facebook reaffirming its to decision to ban Trump this week, when its Oversight Board ruled that Facebook was correct to remove Trump’s access to the platform after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

There’s no reason why Trump can’t launch his own platform to spread his ideas; free speech is clearly written in the First Amendment. But, when the speech promotes misinformation and incites violence, where do we draw the line?

For Chapman University communication law professor Jeff Compangano, the issue has nothing to do with the First Amendment. Private forums like Twitter have the freedom to suppress speech on its platform and the goal of the First Amendment is to prevent government censorship, Compangano said — a completely separate issue.

“The First Amendment starts off with, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging speech,’” he said. “It’s not about Twitter and it’s not about Facebook.”

Compangano emphasized the importance of the “marketplace of ideas,” a concept that promotes a lack of government interference for all speech so people can decide whether they agree or disagree. While Twitter and Facebook can limit Trump’s speech and ban him from the platforms, the “marketplace of ideas” suggests Trump’s accessibility to communicate easily with his followers is more beneficial than harmful.

“I don't see a problem with him expressing his speech,” Compangano said. “I would rather he have a platform to speak and people who follow him have a platform to listen to him. At least they get it out in the open and people can judge whether they believe it to be true or not.”

In modern politics, the role of social media has increased in importance and prominence, especially regarding the presidency. Andrea Molle, a Chapman political science professor, said that’s because it gives people the rare opportunity to communicate directly to the president.

“With Trump, that connection was magnified to the point that he was literally speaking to his own constituents and just bypassing every other intermediate body or political party or even proper official channel,” Molle said.

In general, Trump’s mentions on Facebook and Twitter have dropped drastically since his ban from the platforms —  down by 34% on Twitter and 23% on Facebook the week following the Capitol insurrection Jan. 6. Since, Trump mentions have continued to decline on both platforms.

Lysak believes Trump’s new platform demonstrates an effort to keep his voice and name heard in the public realm.

“With this new social media platform, former President Trump is attempting to make sure that he remains relevant, particularly to his supporters,” Lysak said. “He is positioning himself to be part of the public discussion.”