The Trump administration has announced it will host a social media summit at the White House with “digital leaders” later this month.
Set for July 11, the summit will focus on “opportunities and challenges of today’s online environment,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.
The event was announced on the same day the president opined about having the federal government file lawsuits against tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter during a Fox Business interview.
“Look, we should be suing Google and Facebook and all that, which perhaps we will,” Trump said.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have both met with President Trump in recent months, but this summit changes his focus to users of digital platforms, not just tech executives. Several conservatives with a large social media presence, such as CJ Pearson and Students for Trump National Chairman Ryan Fournier, have mentioned on social media that they’ve been invited to the summit.
This announcement also comes on the heels of Project Veritas slamming YouTube and Google for censorship and bias against conservatives. The watchdog organization released an internal memo in which a member of a Google group called “transparency-and-ethics” advocates for having individuals such as Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson removed from the “suggestion feature.”
The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are increasing their focus on big tech through antitrust probes. The Justice Department will focus on Google and Apple, and the FTC will oversee probes of Facebook and Amazon.
President Trump is a prolific Twitter user and many credit a strong digital media strategy for his 2016 victory. The Trump campaign’s focus on digital engagement was directed by Brad Parscale in 2016. Parscale is now campaign manager of the 2020 Trump campaign. It is clear that the president is concerned liberal bias in Silicon Valley could negatively impact his chances at winning reelection.
Although the president is 73 years old, he continues to be engaged in the ever-changing landscape of tech, understanding the environment better than most leaders, even those who are younger.
“I have millions and millions of followers, but I will tell you they make it very hard for people to join me on Twitter and they make it very much harder for me to get out the message,” Trump said recently.
