Washington: The war of attrition between US President Donald Trump and social media platform Twitter took a new turn Thursday. Donald Trump signed an executive order which is aimed at stripping Twitter and Facebook of legal immunity. This is for the content posted by third-party users. The order came a day after Trump accused Twitter of election interference. Twitter had added fact-check links to two of his tweets.
Executive order
“Today I’m signing an executive order to protect and uphold the free speech and rights of the American people. Currently, social media giants, like Twitter, receive an unprecedented liability shield. This is based on the theory that they’re a neutral platform. They are, but they’re an editor with a viewpoint,” Trump told reporters.
The executive order calls for new regulations, under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It takes away the liability shield of social media companies that engage in censoring or any political conduct. “That’s a big deal. They have a shield; they can do what they want. They’re not going to have that shield anymore,” Trump asserted.
Cutting wings of social media platforms
Trump said that the executive order has given powers to the Federal Trade Commission. The commission can prohibit social media companies from engaging in any deceptive acts or practices affecting commerce. This authority resides in Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, he said.
More responsibilities for attorney general
Trump also said he was directing the Attorney General to work cooperatively with the States. “He’s going to be working closely in cooperation with states to enforce their own laws against deceptive practices. The states have brought in powerful authority to regulate in this arena. They’ll be doing it also and we encourage them to do it – if they see exactly as we’ve been seeing,” Trump noted.
Neutrality questioned
The president said a handful of powerful social media monopolies controlled a vast portion of all public and private communications. They do so in all countries including in the United States. “We know what they are; we don’t have to name them,” he said. “These social media outlets have had unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter virtually any form of communication,” added Trump.
The choices that Twitter makes when it chooses to suppress, edit, blacklist, shadow, ban are editorial decisions, pure and simple. They are editorial decisions. In those moments, Twitter ceases to be a neutral public platform, and they become an editor with a viewpoint, the US president pointed out.
Threat to freedom
“This censorship and bias is a threat to freedom itself. Imagine if your phone company silenced or edited your conversation. Social media companies have vastly more power and reach than any phone company in the United States. More reach, actually, than your newspapers, by far. More reach than a lot of your traditional forms of communication,” Trump pointed out.
No free money for social media
Trump said he is directing his administration to develop policies and procedures. It will ensure taxpayer dollars are not going into any social media company that repress free speech.
“The government spends billions of dollars on giving them money. They’re rich enough. So we’re going to be doing none of it or a very little of it,” informed Trump.
“Many people have wanted this to be done by presidents for a long time. Now we’re doing it. I’m sure they’ll be doing a lawsuit. I’m also sure that we’re going to be going for legislation, in addition to this. The legislation will start immediately,” said the president.
Agencies
