Are Social Media Companies Silencing Free Speech?

FEATURING MELEIZA FIGUEROA – With Twitter’s permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s account, the President has lost his direct megaphone to tens of millions of Americans. Trump effectively used his social media accounts to generate headlines, deflect attention, praise his supporters, direct their fury, castigate his political enemies, and subvert traditional media gatekeepers. Now, some on the left are warning that silencing Trump and his supporters is a violation of their free speech rights that could come back to haunt the left.

Meleiza Figueroa, PhD Candidate in Geography at UC Berkeley and Faculty owner at the Cooperative New School for Urban Studies and Environmental Justice. She has been a longtime political educator and organizer, involved in a wide range of movements for social and environmental justice in California and is a correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali.