President Donald Trump met with Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey at the White House on Tuesday, press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed after the meeting had ended.
Shortly thereafter, Trump tweeted: “Lots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general. Look forward to keeping an open dialogue!”
Following the meeting, a Twitter spokesperson told NBC News that “Jack had a constructive meeting with the President of the United States today at the president’s invitation. They discussed Twitter’s commitment to protecting the health of the public conversation ahead of the 2020 U.S. elections and efforts underway to respond to the opioid crisis.”
Trump’s positive assessment of the meeting represented a reversal from his attitude toward the company just hours before, on Tuesday morning, when he used his personal Twitter account to criticize the tech giant.
There is no evidence to support Trump’s claim that Twitter is “very discriminatory,” or that it is “hard for people to sign on.” Trump’s allegation that Twitter is “constantly taking people off list,” likewise appears to be unfounded, although the site does take steps to remove automated accounts that impersonate real people, known as bots. It was also unclear precisely what Trump was referring to by, “Big complaints from many people.”
In response to similar criticism from Trump in March, the company said, “We enforce the Twitter rules impartially for all users, regardless of their background or political affiliation.”
Trump is a prolific tweeter, and his account had more than 59 million followers as of Tuesday afternoon. The president uses Twitter practically every day to communicate directly with the public on issues affecting every facet of his administration.
Over the course of a day, Trump’s Twitter topics can range from serious foreign policy matters like the North Korean nuclear talks, to small scale domestic political rivalries.
The social media platform was instrumental in driving Trump’s meteoric rise through the ranks of Republican politics. In 2015 and 2016, Trump’s blunt, outspoken tweets helped him to break through a crowded Republican primary field to win the party’s presidential nomination and from there, the White House.
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