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Trump Quietly Unblocks More Critics on Twitter

A number of journalists, video producers, self-described activists, and a special assistant to President Obama were unblocked by Trump today. It comes after a US judge ruled that Trump's Twitter blocking was unconstitutional.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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President Donald Trump has been quietly unblocking more of his critics on Twitter following a court ruling that declared the act unconstitutional.

Trump's account stopped blocking at least 30 different accounts, which were quick to report the change starting on Tuesday. A number of journalists, video producers, self-described activists and a special assistant to President Obama were among those affected.

In May, a New York district judge ruled that Trump's personal Twitter account @realDonaldTrump was actually a "public forum" given that he's been elected to the nation's highest office. As a result, Trump's attempts to block certain followers on Twitter represented a violation of the First Amendment.

The White House is appealing the ruling, arguing that the @realDonaldTrump account is under the president's personal control and not that of the government. Nevertheless, Trump has been complying with the court's initial interpretation of US law. In June, he unblocked seven of the plantiffs named in the original lawsuit over his Twitter practices.

However, the group that brought the lawsuit against Trump is demanding he do more. Earlier this month, the Knight First Amendment Institute sent a letter to the DOJ requesting that Trump unblock all his political critics on the social media platform.

In that same request, the Institute provided a list of another 41 known accounts that Trump had blocked on Twitter. PCMag checked them and it appears the president has unblocked most, but not all, of the affected accounts. At least one account belonging to an executive producer of ABC's Modern Family said he remained blocked. Others notable critics of Trump, such as comedian Rosie O'Donnell, also remain barred from viewing the president's account.

"If these individuals were blocked on the basis of their viewpoints, it's incumbent on the White House to unblock them immediately," tweeted the Knight First Amendment Institute, which said it'll continue to work with Justice Department officials to restore access to Trump's Twitter account.

'They Better Be Careful'

The controversy comes as the president has been attacking internet companies over what he says is censorship. On Tuesday, Trump accused Google of suppressing conservative news outlets from its search results. At a later press conference, he said the same about Twitter and Facebook.

"They better be careful, because you can't do that to people," Trump said. "We have literally thousands and thousands of complaint coming in."

Google denied any wrongdoing; "we don't bias our results toward any political ideology," it said.

Today, Trump complained about losing followers on his social media platforms. "You lose people and you say, where did they go, they get taken off," he said.

It's unclear if this was a reference to Twitter's July purge of "locked accounts" from people's follower counts, which reportedly resulted in Trump losing 100,000 followers.

Trump has not provided clarity on either point. But his attacks come after Google and Facebook banned conservative web show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms.

Next week, the heads of Google, Facebook and Twitter are set to testify before a Senate committee on preventing "foreign influence operations" over social media platforms. However, Trump's accusations about suppressing conservative viewpoints will likely be a topic of discussion.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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