Trump hosts social media summit

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump is meeting with conservative internet influencers and politicians on Thursday to discuss the perceptions of bias on social media. The summit is intended to bring together “digital leaders for a robust conversation on the opportunities and challenges of today’s online environment,” White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., are among those scheduled to attend the meeting, while representatives from several conservative organizations also plan to participate, including Turning Point USA, PragerU, and the Heritage Foundation. “At a time when social media is having a transformative effect on much of American culture, it’s a welcome opportunity to talk with other digital leaders at the White House,” said Robert Bluey, vice president of communications for Heritage.

“A big subject today at the White House Social Media Summit will be the tremendous dishonesty, bias, discrimination and suppression practiced by certain companies,” Trump tweeted. “We will not let them get away with it much longer.”

Just two days earlier, a federal appeals court ruled that Trump could not block critics from his Twitter account.