Joe Biden Gives Big Tech a Different Kind of Washington Problem
The president-elect isn’t offering a repeat of the Obama administration’s Silicon Valley embrace.
President-elect Joe Biden is displayed on a screen while speaking during an election night party in Wilmington, Del., on Nov. 4.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg
At about 2:30 a.m. on Friday, with his chances for reelection looking grim, President Trump rage-tweeted about Twitter itself, saying the company was “out of control” and blaming a 24-year-old law that he falsely claims encourages America’s leading tech companies to censor their conservative users.
The source of the president’s frustration was obvious. The tweet was his 29th since the polls had closed on Tuesday, and Twitter had hidden 12 of them behind warnings that Trump’s communications could undermine the electoral process by misleading people. His Facebook posts were still visible, though they were also littered with disclaimers about the legitimacy of the voting process. In the eyes of Trump and his allies, this was all further proof of Silicon Valley’s campaign of anti-conservative censorship, an issue Republicans have harped on throughout Trump’s presidency.