Krishanti Vignarajah, a former policy director for Michelle Obama, said tech companies like Twitter and Facebook need to “safeguard” against hateful and incendiary rhetoric.
Vignarajah acknowledged on Wednesday that social media platforms have a “democratizing” effect, but she also warned that tech companies have to maintain a “fine balance” when it comes to policing content on their social platforms.
“I think the risk and what we need to guard against is what gets the most traction is some of the most vitriolic, most incendiary rhetoric,” Vignarajah told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton and Jamal Simmons on “Rising.”
“This is where there’s got to be that fine balance of, of course, protecting First Amendment right, but also realizing that because it is so easily fermenting some of the anger, the hatred, the violence that we’re seeing that there has to be some safeguards at these tech companies,” she added.
Vignarajah made these comments during a panel discussion about conservative pundit Jesse Kelly, who was banned from Twitter last week.
Kelly returned to Twitter on Tuesday after his account was suspended for reasons that remain unclear.
The conservative commentator told Hill.TV that he had no idea why he was banned, saying he is generally “fairly careful” on the platform, and accused the site of being “completely overrun by Silicon Valley leftists.”
A Twitter spokesperson didn’t specify why Kelly’s account was suspended, but told The Hill that it was temporarily removed for “for violating the Twitter Rules” and has since been restored.
Twitter’s move to temporarily ban Kelly sparked a wave of criticism from Republicans, who have long accused the media giant among other of being biased against conservatives.
Kelly, who is a Iraq War veteran, hosts his own radio show and is known for espousing often politically biased and controversial viewpoints.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said that he doesn’t condone Kelly’s behavior and rhetoric on social media, but he argued that the ban pointed to a more concerning trend, which sets a “bad precent for our free speech society.”
Kelly nevertheless got a bump following the controversy, adding more than 30,000 followers upon returning to Twitter.
— Tess Bonn
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