Trump blasted Biden for 'social media censorship'
Trump and Republicans repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for pressuring social media companies to remove content. In a day-one executive order ending “federal censorship,” Trump said that “the previous administration trampled on the rights of free speech by censoring American speech on online platforms, often by applying substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise oppress.'
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) held a hearing last week on his claim that the US government under Biden “violated the First Amendment by pressuring social media companies to censor Americans who held different views than the Biden administration.” Cruz called the tactic of pressuring social media companies part of the “left's playbook” and said he wants Congress to pass a law “to end government harassment and protect every American's right to free speech.”
Shortly before Trump's inauguration in January 2025, Meta announced it would end the third-party fact-checking program it introduced in 2016. “There has been increasing pressure from governments and traditional media to censor, and much of this is clearly political,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the time. Zuckerberg called the election “a cultural tipping point toward reprioritizing speech.”
In addition to putting pressure on Facebook, the Trump administration demanded that Apple remove the ICEBlock app from the App Store. Apple responded by removing the app, which allowed iPhone users to report the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Google has removed similar Android apps from the Play Store.
Chicago is a major target of Trump's immigration policies. The Department of Homeland Security says it launched Operation Midway Blitz in early September to “find criminal illegal aliens who have flocked to Chicago and Illinois to seek protection under Governor Pritzker's sanctuary policy.”
People trying to avoid ICE agents have used technology to crowdsource information about agents' locations. While the accuracy of crowdsourced information can vary widely, a group called the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights says it is working to verify reports of ICE sightings and only send text alerts to local residents when ICE activity has been verified.
Last month, an ICE agent shot and killed a man named Silverio Villegas Gonzalez in a Chicago suburb. The Department of Homeland Security alleged that Villegas Gonzalez was “a criminal illegal alien with a history of reckless driving,” and that he “drove his vehicle toward law enforcement officers.” The Chicago Tribune said it found “no criminal record for Villegas Gonzalez, who has lived in the Chicago area for the past 18 years.”
