11th January, 2021
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has attacked Twitter for permanently blocking the account of US President, Donald Trump.
Twitter recently suspended permanently, the account of Trump fearing that he might use the platform to further incite violence.
Merkel’s position was made known by Steffen Seibert, German Government Spokesman on Monday.
“I would like to say that the German Government is convinced that operators of social media networks bear a very high level of responsibility.
“They bear a great deal of responsibility for ensuring that political communication is not poisoned by hatred, lies and incitement to violence and it is not right to idly stand by when content is posted on certain channels that falls into this category,” Seibert said.
“The fundamental right to freedom of expression is a fundamental right of vital significance. This fundamental right can be intervened in but according to the law and within the framework defined by the legislator, not according to the decision of the social media platforms.
“From this point of view, the German Chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the US President, have been permanently blocked,” he added.