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Trump meets Twitter chief after bias spray

US President Donald Trump has met with Twitter Inc’s Chief Executive Jack Dorsey, hours after attacking the social media company over his claims it is biased against conservatives.

Apr 24, 2019, updated Apr 24, 2019
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey met Donald Trump in the Oval Office after the US President accused the platform of bias. Photo: supplied.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey met Donald Trump in the Oval Office after the US President accused the platform of bias. Photo: supplied.

“Great meeting this afternoon at the @WhiteHouse with @Jack from @Twitter. Lots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general. Look forward to keeping an open dialogue!” Trump tweeted, posting a photo of Dorsey and others with him in the Oval Office.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump suggested Twitter was biased against him without providing evidence.

He wrote on Twitter that the company does not “treat me well as a Republican. Very discriminatory.”

Twitter said in a statement Dorsey had a “constructive meeting with the president of the United States today at the president’s invitation.

They discussed Twitter’s commitment to protecting the health of the public conversation ahead of the 2020 US elections and efforts underway to respond to the opioid crisis.”

Trump has one of the most-followed accounts on Twitter, with nearly 60 million followers. But the president and Republicans in Congress have repeatedly criticised the company and its social media competitors for what they have called bias against conservatives, something Twitter denies.

Democratic US Senator Mazie Hirono said earlier this month “we cannot allow the Republican party to harass tech companies into weakening content moderation policies that already fail to remove hateful, dangerous and misleading content.”

Carlos Monje, Twitter’s public policy director, said at a Senate hearing earlier this month the site “does not use political viewpoints, perspectives or party affiliation to make any decisions, whether related to automatically ranking content on our service or how we develop or enforce our rules.”

In October, Trump wrote that “Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join – they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?”

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Any reduction is likely the result of Twitter’s recent moves to remove millions of suspicious accounts after it and other social media services were used in misinformation campaigns attempting to influence voters in the 2016 US presidential race and other elections, Reuters reported in October.

-AAP

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