Where Freedom of Speech Is Relative

Truth Social, Trump’s social site, faces criticism for leaving violent content up—and for filtering innocuous content

- By Julia Love

In the wake of the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s residence, some users of the social media platform he helped start urged people to respond with violence.

Before 42-year-old Ricky Shiffer made his fatal attempt to breach an FBI office in Cincinnati, an account in his name posted a “call to arms” on the site, Truth Social, and told people to “get whatever you need to be ready for combat.” A letter that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform sent to Truth Social on Aug. 19 expressed concern over other posts, including one that said “F--- the Feds! The Second Amendment is not about shooting deer! Lock and load!” and another calling on people to “Arm yourselves! We are about to enter into Civil War!”

The letter, addressed to former Republican Representative Devin Nunes, the chief executive officer of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent of Truth Social, demanded information about what criteria the platform uses to decide which content should be removed and the resources it dedicated to content moderation. It also asked how many threats against federal law enforcement it had identified since the Mar-a-Lago search and how many of those posts were removed or reported to authorities. The committee made similar inquiries to Meta Platforms, Twitter, TikTok, and other social media companies.