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Although he's made few public appearances since he lost the presidential election on November 3, Donald Trump has spent the last two months lashing out on Twitter.
Trump—who will cease to officially be President on January 20—published countless false tweets claiming the election was rigged and through voter fraud the Democrats "stole" the election.
But try as he has, every one of Trump's claims—of which no evidence has been provided or found—was flagged by the social media site.
And so, the following image has become a regular occurrence on Trump's Twitter feed.
Twitter
After multiple weeks—and hundreds of tweeted lies—plowing through flag after flag, Trump apparently grew fed up. On Christmas Eve, he posted a tweet decrying what he deemed Twitter's attempt to "suppress even the truth."
Then, in a wild logical leap, Trump announced Twitter's decision to flag his frequent lies would lead to Communism.
Section 230 is a piece of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that protects online publishers—like Twitter and Facebook—from liability for the content their users publish on the platform.
Twitter users were totally perplexed by Trump's conclusion about the beginnings of Communism.
@realDonaldTrump It's sad you don't know what communism is.— Beau of The Fifth Column (@Beau of The Fifth Column)1608865718.0
@realDonaldTrump Twitter notices on false information Trump tweets, according to Trump constitutes "COMMUNISM"??? I… https://t.co/dH3h8PdaA6— Brent O (@Brent O)1608857354.0
@realDonaldTrump Communism starts by having a "leader" who tries to overthrow the system. That's exactly what you'r… https://t.co/lAtNLeKdaq— Kim (@Kim)1608851215.0
@realDonaldTrump It’s a little known fact that the Russian revolution began with Twitter flagging up the Tsar’s twe… https://t.co/ymnRISvp3J— Robin Lustig (@Robin Lustig)1608907971.0
@waltshaub @realDonaldTrump A private company controlling its own platform is literally the opposite of communism b… https://t.co/WzWwzu0uq1— Chris B (@Chris B)1608851599.0
Spurred by the serious consequences of disinformation across the internet regarding the virus, Twitter first began to flag tweets containing false or disputed information back in March 2020.
In the policy announcement, however, Twitter did acknowledge it would use the flagging system in non-virus areas if the need arose.
"Moving forward, we may use these labels and warning messages to provide additional explanations or clarifications in situations where the risks of harm associated with a Tweet are less severe but where people may still be confused or misled by the content.
"This will make it easier to find facts and make informed decisions about what people see on Twitter."
Clearly, Trump's false claims about voter fraud fit the bill.