'We have what's known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH!' Outraged Trump says he is 'closely monitoring' social media sites for bias against conservatives - after Facebook banned several far-right figures from their platform

Alex Jones and Laura Loomer were among several right-wing commentators who were banned from Facebook and Instagram this week

On Friday, Trump hit back, implying that a social media crackdown on controversial content was actually an attack on conservatives

President Trump says he is 'closely monitoring'  Facebook, Instagram and Twitter after the social media giants removed a number of conservative figures from their platforms.

Right-wing personalities Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer were banned from Facebook this week, as the site attempts to combat criticism that it spreads misinformation and hateful content.

However, in a flurry of Tweets on Friday, the Commander-in-chief seemed to imply that the purge was merely an attack on right-wing voices and that shutting off their access to social media may be a violation of first amendment rights. 

'I am continuing to monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms. This is the United States of America — and we have what's known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH!' Trump wrote in one post.

He added: 'We are monitoring and watching, closely!!'

Later, the president posted a tweet referencing Diamond & Silk, right-wing commentators who were briefly blocked from Facebook last year amid claims that their page was 'unsafe'.

'The wonderful Diamond and Silk have been treated so horribly by Facebook. They work so hard and what has been done to them is very sad - and we're looking into.

'It's getting worse and worse for Conservatives on social media! ' he proclaimed.

Trump then shared a link to a Breitbart article that discussed the social media bans of two more famous right-wing figures.

'So surprised to see Conservative thinkers like James Woods banned from Twitter, and Paul Watson banned from Facebook!' he tweeted sarcastically.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in on Facebook's recent purge.

'The purposeful & calculated silencing of conservatives by @Facebook & the rest of the Big Tech monopoly men should terrify everyone. It appears they're taking their censorship campaign to the next level.

'Ask yourself, how long before they come to purge you? We must fight back,' he implored.

Despite the president hitting out at the social media giants, he is still a prolific user of Twitter. He has tweeted a whopping 41,600 times and he boasts an incredible 60 million followers.

On Thursday, Facebook announced that in addition to banning Yiannopoulos, Watson and Loomer, they had also culled Infowars founder Alex Jones from their site.

They additionally blocked Paul Nehlen, a white nationalist who ran for Congress in 2018.

However, the social media giants have also barred other controversial voices who do not identify as conservative or right-wing.  Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was one figure who was blocked from the website, following accusations of antisemitism. 

A Facebook spokesperson told Dailymail.com that it conducts a lengthy process to determine which people or groups it considers to have a violent or hateful mission.

Among the factors include whether or not the person has called for or directly carried out acts of violence against people based on characteristics like race, ethnicity or national origin.

The firm also considers whether they're a self-described or identified follower of a hateful ideology, use hate speech or slurs in their bio on Facebook, Instagram or other social sites, and whether they've had pages, groups and accounts removed from Facebook or Instagram for violating its hate speech policies, the spokesperson added. 

The company first signaled a broader crackdown on content when, in March, it banned white nationalism and white separatist posts from its platform.

As part of the sweeping crackdown, Facebook said it would no longer allow posts that include statements like 'I am a proud white nationalist' and 'Immigration is tearing this country apart; white separatism is the only answer' to remain on its site.

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