Trump signs executive order targeting Twitter, Facebook after his tweets are fact-checked

President Donald Trump signed a regulation on Thursday aimed at social networks like Twitter and Facebook. The order came after Twitter labeled Trump’s tweets via mail-in ballots for “potentially misleading information.”

During the signing, Trump said that social media companies were not “neutral platforms” and added that Twitter would become an “editor with perspective” if it banned accounts, edited or removed posts.

“The censorship and bias is a threat to freedom itself,” Trump card said. “Imagine your phone company silencing or editing your conversation. Social media companies have far more power and reach than any other phone company in the United States.”

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Trump issues the order to stop the alleged “untested power” …

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Social media companies have repeatedly denied censoring conservative speeches, but Twitter’s review of Trump’s tweets has revived a debate over whether they are neutral platforms or publishers. Both Twitter and Facebook have said that they do not want to be an “arbitrator of the truth”.

A Google spokeswoman said the company’s content guidelines are not politically biased.

“We have clear content guidelines and enforce them regardless of political considerations,” said the spokeswoman. “Our platforms have empowered a wide range of people and organizations from across the political spectrum to give them a voice and new ways to reach their audiences. Undermining Section 230 in this way would undermine the American economy and its global leadership in Harm to internet freedom. ”

Twitter declined to comment. Facebook said it was a platform for different views, and its rules apply to everyone.

“Removing or restricting section 230 does the opposite. It will restrict more language online, not less. Exposing companies to potential liability for everything that billions of people around the world say would punish companies that are controversial Allow language and encourage platforms to censor anything that could offend someone, “said a Facebook spokesman in a statement.

Signing the top command does not change the way Twitter and Facebook work, at least not for the time being. Instead, it calls on the government to specify a federal law that protects online businesses from liability for user-published content.

Experts who read the draft regulation on Wednesday say it is likely to be challenged in court and some have raised concerns about its impact on freedom of expression.

“Donald Trump is not the president of Twitter. When this order is issued, it is an obvious and unconstitutional threat to punishing social media companies that displease the president,” said Kate Ruane, ACLU senior legislative counsel in one Declaration before signing the executive order.

Trump said he expected the order to be challenged in court, but expected it to “do very well.”

The ordinance instructs the Department of Commerce to request the Federal Communications Commission to initiate a regulatory process to rethink Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability for user-published content. It also gave the Federal Trade Commission responsibility to investigate complaints about political bias and determine whether technology company content moderation policies conflict with its promise of neutrality.

The ordinance instructs government agencies to review the amount of federal dollars they spend on online platforms. It calls on Attorney General William Barr to work with attorneys general to investigate allegations of bias.

Barr, who came to Trump during the signing of the executive ordinance, said that Section 230 had been expanded beyond its original intent and that social media companies had agreed to “bait and switch”.

Online platforms grew because they turned out to be free public forums with a variety of voices. Now “they’re using this market power to force certain positions,” he said.

The FCC and FTC are independent agencies, so it’s up to you to decide whether to do Trump’s job. “This debate is important. The Federal Communications Commission will carefully review all requests for regulation from the Department of Commerce,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement after Trump signed the order.

Trump’s move came after Twitter added labels two of his tweets in which he claimed that postal ballot papers were “fraudulent”. If you click on the Twitter label, you will get to a page with news agency tweets stating that postal ballot papers are rarely associated with election fraud and that Trump’s claims are “unfounded.” Trump also incorrectly stated in his tweets that California would send postal ballot papers to “anyone who lives in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there.” Only registered voters receive ballots.

During the press conference, Trump still denied that his tweet was wrong. He said that he refers to people who take other voters’ ballots in what he calls “ballot harvesting”.

On Wednesday evening, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey responded to the criticism of his company’s executives about the labels.

“Fact check: There is someone who is ultimately responsible for what we do as a company, and I am. Please let our employees go.” he wrote. “We will continue to report false or controversial information about elections worldwide. And we will admit and have all the mistakes we make.”

Dorsey added that labeling Trump’s tweets does not make Twitter an “arbiter of truth.” Trump’s tweets could “mislead people into believing they don’t have to register to get a ballot”.

Despite Dorsey’s comments, Trump continued to point to Yoel Roth, who runs the integrity of the Twitter website. Roth posted Trump-critical tweets a few years ago, but Twitter said that a single person wasn’t responsible for the decision to review the President’s tweets.

Twitter’s approach is in contrast to Facebook, which did not feature Trump’s comments on mail-in ballots. Facebook typically doesn’t send politician posts and ads to its third-party fact-checkers. In interviews broadcast on Fox News and CNBC, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said political speech is already heavily questioned and believes internet platforms should not be “arbitrators of the truth”.

While the executive ordinance calls Facebook, Twitter and Google to censor political speeches, some experts say Trump has actually benefited from the current interpretations of section 230.

“Section 230 provides platforms with incentives to host all types of content without fear of being held responsible for it. It enables language, not censorship,” said Ruane. “If platforms weren’t legally immune, they wouldn’t risk the legal liability that could be associated with hosting Donald Trump’s lies, defamation, and threats.”

Michael Kleinman, director of Amnesty International’s Silicon Valley Initiative, described Trump’s executive order as “distracting.” “Threats and retaliation against platforms that do simple fact-checking are all the more worrying because a government continues to attack the media and journalists because it does the crucial job of telling the truth to the power. The president is not the decision maker. ” Truth. Taking advantage of prejudices is dangerous and irresponsible, “he said in a statement.

Trump signaled that further measures would come outside of an executive regulation. Republican lawmakers also draft laws to deprive online businesses of legal protection for user contributions. Trump has also said in the past that he would consider closing down Twitter and social media companies. Trump said Thursday that he wasn’t sure how that would happen, but he needed to ask lawyers and go through a lawsuit.

“If it could be legally shut down, I would do it. I think I would hurt (Twitter) very badly if we stopped using it,” he said.