Newsweek ran a story Tuesday suggesting that President Donald Trump's habit of blocking people on Twitter is comparable to the blackout of entire sites instituted by Iran earlier this week.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Trump administration has upped diplomatic pressure on Iran, demanding the regime stop blocking access to social media sites like Twitter and Instagram that were being used by protesters to organize demonstrations.
"They are legitimate avenues for communication," Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein said. "People in Iran should be able to access those sites."
But Newsweek cast the demand as hypocritical, complaining that "Trump, Who Blocks Americans on Twitter, Tells Iran to Unblock Social Media During Protests."
Trump bars Americans on Twitter but tells Iran to unblock social media sites https://t.co/6IIlxHI4MY pic.twitter.com/kHBaBvOLfb
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 2, 2018
"Some of President Donald Trump's critics were quick to point out that he has blocked dozens of people from his personal Twitter account," the story notes, without actually naming any such critics. Presumably, the author was alluding to a tweet by the New York Times' Maggie Haberman.
The president often blocks individual people from seeing the @realDonaldTrump Twitter feed https://t.co/cVoLLlXrGR
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 2, 2018
Newsweek notes that an ongoing lawsuit alleges that Trump's Twitter blocks represent a First Amendment violation that unfairly discriminates based on viewpoint.