North Idaho internet provider blocks Facebook, Twitter due to ‘censorship’ concerns

A North Idaho internet provider — Your T1 WIFI — said it has decided to block Facebook and Twitter for some customers, citing censorship claims, per KGW8.

Your T1 WIFI provides internet to North Idaho and the greater Spokane, Washington, area.

The decision comes after Twitter and Facebook banned President Donald Trump from social media platforms in the wake of the U.S. Capitol riots.

Per KGW8, the decision could violate the net neutrality law in Washington state. The company said it planned to block Twitter and Facebook because the company received complaints from customers.

• “It has come to our attention that Twitter and Facebook are engaged in censorship of our customers and information,” the company said in an email to customers.
• “Our company does not believe a website or social networking site has the authority to censor what you see and post and hide information from you, stop you from seeing what your friends and family are posting,” the email reads. “This is why with the amount of concerns, we have made this decision to block these two websites from being accessed from our network.”

More details:

The company said it does not “condone what Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and Apple are doing ... to Parler by trying to strong arm them into submission.”

Brett Fink, the owner of the company, told KREM that websites will only be blocked for those who ask for it.

• “We’ve had customers asked to be blocked by it. That is what the email was about, so no we are not blocking anybody, only the ones that have asked for it,” Fink said.