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Bernie Sanders raises concerns about Twitter's Trump ban

24 March 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told New York Times podcast "The Ezra Klein Show" Tuesday he doesn't feel "particularly comfortable" with Twitter permanently banning former President Trump from the platform.

Driving the news: In the interview, Sanders was asked about criticisms from some conservatives that liberals had become "too censorious." Sanders responded by saying Trump "is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a pathological liar, an authoritarian, somebody who doesn't believe in the rule of law."

  • But, but, but: He added, "if you're asking me, do I feel particularly comfortable that the president, the then-president of the United States, could not express his views on Twitter? I don’t feel comfortable about it."
  • Sanders noted that social media sites shouldn't allow "hate speech and conspiracy theories" to go "traveling all over" the U.S. or be "used for authoritarian purposes and insurrection."
  • He said he wasn't sure how to achieve that balance, but "it is an issue that we have got to be thinking about" because "yesterday it was Donald Trump who was banned, and tomorrow it could be somebody else who has a very different point of view."
"I don’t like giving that much power to a handful of high tech people, but the devil is obviously in the details and it’s something we’re going to have to think long and hard on, and that is how you preserve First Amendment rights without moving this country into a big lie mentality and conspiracy theories."

For the record: Sanders' has called for the breakup of Big Tech companies and repeatedly criticized them for their monopolies.

What to watch: During the podcast interview, Sanders noted he'd invited Amazon's Jeff Bezos to testify at a hearing on inequality this week and that "a guy who was worth $182 billion, that’s a B, $182 billion thinks he has to spend millions of dollars to fight workers who are trying to form a union to improve their wages and working conditions."

  • The Senate Budget Committee chair added: "We need to pass legislation to make it easier for workers to join unions because if workers are in unions and can negotiate decent contracts, their wages will go up. Their working conditions and their benefits will improve. So we are working hard on that issue."
  • Representatives for Twitter and Amazon did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Go deeper: Young people want checks on Big Tech's power

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.