Trump Accuses Twitter of Trending Only ‘Bad’ Stories About Him

Twitter trends are based on an algorithm, not selected by anyone within the company

Donald Trump
Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images

President Donald Trump again accused Twitter of only promoting negative stories about him in its “trending” section through a string of tweets Thursday.

“Twitter makes sure that Trending on Twitter is anything bad, Fake or not, about President Donald Trump. So obvious what they are doing. Being studied now!” wrote the president.

He made a similar claim Aug. 20 as #TrumpMeltdown was trending. At that time, he wrote, “It’s never a real Twitter Trending. It’s Twitter Executive’s Choice. Only negative on Republican voices, especially mine!” the president tweeted.

A Twitter spokesperson refuted that characterization at the time in a statement to TheWrap: “Trends are determined by an algorithm and, by default, are tailored for you based on who you follow, your interests, and location.”

Also on Thursday, Trump renewed his attacks on states with Democratic leadership and tweeted along with a “Fox & Friends” segment on mail-in voting, sowing seeds of doubt that the election on Nov. 3 may never be determined.

Trump himself was not trending Thursday when he accused the microblogging platform’s trending topics list of being rigged, but attorney general Bill Barr was.

There were calls to impeach the attorney general from political figures on the site after he lashed out at the hundreds of Justice Department prosecutors who work beneath him Tuesday, suggesting they’re like preschoolers as he defended his own actions within the Trump administration.

The term “Japanese Americans” was also trending Thursday after Barr made said coronavirus-related shutdowns were the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties” since slavery. Japanese Americans were rounded up and herded into internment camps during WWII.

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