Scrolling through Twitter is a daily habit for me. Tweet after tweet is highlighted by likes and retweets. One hundred forty characters are given to say whatever comes to mind. People may agree or disagree, laugh or frown, love or hate, or feel stuck in the middle—but the choice is theirs.

Celebrities, politicians, and ordinary people use Twitter to constantly share their abundance of thoughts. Whether they discuss politics, personal opinions, or anything worth sharing, people tweet it. Our president is famous for this.

However, the freedom to say whatever is on your mind comes with a price. Unfollow, mute, and block are choices given with the click of a button. On almost every social media platform (including Twitter) there is an option to report. Disagreeing with an opinion may lead to a person reporting the post and petitioning for its removal.  

Twitter thrives on free expression. Twitter provided a major platform for the 2018 midterm elections—people stated their opinions or encouraged people to vote. Whatever their stance was on a politician they have the right advocate or disencourage people to vote for a particular candidate.

According to Internet Live Stats, 500,000 million tweets are posted everyday allowing people to share their perspective, ideas, and judgements. However, the freedom of their opinion can be easily removed or loved, taken down or praised. In those one hundred forty characters your speech is free, yet monitored. Freedom of speech is given and taken whether it be on social media or in a simple everyday conversation.