President Trump accuses social media companies of ‘terrible bias’ at White House summit decried by critics

President Donald Trump assailed Facebook, Google and Twitter for exhibiting “terrible bias” and silencing his supporters at a White House “social media summit” that critics chastised for giving a prominent stage to some of the internet’s most controversial, incendiary voices. For President Trump, the conference represented his highest profile broadside yet against Silicon Valley after months of accusations that tech giants censor conservative users and websites. In doing so, the president also sought to rally his widely followed online allies, whom he described as “journalists and influencers” that together can reach roughly half a billion people, entering the 2020 presidential election. “Some of you are extraordinary. The crap you think of is unbelievable,” President Trump said.

President Trump delivered his winding diatribe against Facebook, Google and Twitter — charges of political bias that all three companies long have denied — at an event at the White House featuring Republican lawmakers, GOP campaign strategists and social-media meme makers, a move that led some critics to express dismay that the president actually aimed to use the policy summit as a re-election push.