Trump Claims Twitter's Trending Topics Are Illegal, And 'Very Unfair'
Donald Trump may have sent out his most birdbrained tweet yet.
On Monday, the president decided ― in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic and an ensuing economic crisis, no less! ― that his priorities should be focused on how badly he’s treated by Twitter’s trending topics:
So disgusting to watch Twitter’s so-called “Trending”, where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one. They look for anything they can find, make it as bad as possible, and blow it up, trying to make it trend. Really ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2020
HuffPost reached out to Twitter, which declined to comment. However, a page on its platform explains how trending topics are chosen. Apparently, it’s not done by a bunch of people looking for ways to be mean to the 74-year-old leader of the free world.
“Trends are determined by an algorithm and, by default, are tailored for you based on who you follow, your interests, and your location.
“This algorithm identifies topics that are popular now, rather than topics that have been popular for a while or on a daily basis, to help you discover the hottest emerging topics of discussion on Twitter.”
But while Twitter declined to comment on the president’s suggestion that trending topics are “ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair,” many Twitter users felt free to speak their minds.
In a time of historic national anxiety and unrest, it's comforting to know that the president is focused like a laser on what's important https://t.co/tV6T0eD1R1
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) July 27, 2020
Sgt. Friday (voiceover): Jack Dorsey was sentenced to 15 to 20 years in a federal penitentiary for the crime of making bad trending topics about the president.
[DRAGNET THEME] https://t.co/k8ksNJtttJ— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) July 27, 2020
