Former President Donald Trump said Twitter has become “boring” as he commented on its stock plunge last week.
Late Thursday, Twitter’s stock had dropped 11 percent, according to CNBC, before ending Friday down 15.16 percent, according to Google.
“Twitter stock ‘plunged’ as results are no longer cutting it for investors. Shares are off 15% today,” Trump said in a statement, before quoting stock analyst Michael Nathanson.
“Bad forecasts are hurting the outlook but more importantly, in my opinion, it has become totally BORING as people flock to leave the site,” the statement said.
BREAKING: New statement from President Trump on Twitter: pic.twitter.com/iw19Zy30B4
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 1, 2021
“I guess that’s what happens when you go against FREEDOM OF SPEECH! It will happen to others also,” Trump said.
Twitter issued Trump a lifetime ban on the social medial platform after the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion. Since then, there have been multiple reports that Trump would mount a social media counter-attack and launch his own platform.
A report on Axios revealed one of the latest concepts bandied about.
The report said Trump was urged to create the Trump Media Group.
The pitch offered to Trump said the operation would be “a conservative media powerhouse that will rival the liberal media and fight back against ‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley.”
According to Axios, there were three pieces to the project: “Trump+ (a subscription-based content business that gets compared to Netflix and Disney+), Trump Social Media (which would take a stake in existing companies or build its own), and Trump Technologies (which would provide alternatives to internet services like AWS and Stripe, and promise not to censor customers).”
A report in The Hill in March said Trump was weighing competing offers from various social media platforms before making any decision about a full-fledged social media comeback.
As Trump weighs his options, Florida is moving forward on legislation to prevent Big Tech from muzzling future political figures, according to NBC.
FINALLY.
Thank you, Florida, for defending the first amendment against monopoly woke rule.#Florida Law To Go After Social Media Companies that Target Conservatives https://t.co/i1e74aDNMU
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) April 30, 2021
The Florida legislation, which has the support of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, would ban social media companies from actively “deplatforming” political figures, saying that no company could “permanently delete or ban” a candidate. Individual posts could be deleted, and suspensions could still be issued for violating a site’s terms of service.
“What this bill is about is sending a loud message to Silicon Valley that they are not the absolute arbiters of truth,” said Republican state Rep. John Snyder.
“What this bill does is send a loud message that the Constitution does not have an asterisk that says only certain speech is free and protected,” he said.
