Washington (AFP)

Donald Trump will be able to indulge in a new wave of attacks against Twitter, Facebook and their counterparts during a "summit on social networks" to be held Thursday at the White House, without the interested but with the most critical conservatives of Silicon Valley.

Little details have yet been provided on this meeting, the US presidency only specifying having invited "digital leaders" to discuss "the opportunities and challenges of the current climate online".

Facebook confirmed Monday that the group had not been solicited. Twitter did not want to comment but several media reported that the social network was also excluded from the event.

Both groups are regularly the target of attacks by Donald Trump, who blames them for leaning left and curb the word of conservatives.

The list of guests, however, according to the Washington Post, show that many organizations regularly complain about being censored by platforms, such as the PragerU site, which publishes videos with very good perspectives, or the organization TurningPoint USA, which states that universities Americans do "leftist propaganda".

The head of the Project Veritas organization, who claims to have infiltrated the Silicon Valley giants to show they were well biased, also said in an email that he was invited.

Caricaturist Ben Garrison, a Trump supporter who recently questioned the ethnic origins of Democratic primary candidate Kamala Harris, also announced on Twitter that she will be at the top.

This meeting comes at a delicate time for the American giants of technology, accused of censorship by the Conservatives but also not to do enough to suppress hate content online.

The giants of Silicon Valley, for their part reject any accusation of bias, saying that it would harm their business interests.

For Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technologies and Innovation Foundation, organizing such a summit could make it more difficult.

"If it's just a rally of Pro-Trump influencers on social networks, then it makes sense that platforms do not participate," he said.

"But officially participating in a meeting at the White House gives some of these most eccentric personalities a veneer of legitimacy," he added. And "social network moderators could rethink twice before disabling any of their accounts if they were reported for inappropriate content."

? 2019 AFP