CNN: Trump signs executive order targeting social media companies
President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting social media companies on Thursday, days after Twitter called two of his tweets "potentially misleading."
Speaking from the Oval Office ahead of signing the order, Trump said the move was to "defend free speech from one of the gravest dangers it has faced in American history."
"A small handful of social media monopolies controls a vast portion of all public and private communications in the United States," he claimed. "They've had unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter, virtually any form of communication between private citizens and large public audiences."
The executive order tests the boundaries of the White House's authority. In a long-shot legal bid, it seeks to curtail the power of large social media platforms by reinterpreting a critical 1996 law that shields websites and tech companies from lawsuits. But legal experts on both the right and the left have raised serious concerns about the proposal. They say it may be unconstitutional because it risks infringing on the First Amendment rights of private companies and because it attempts to circumvent the two other branches of government.
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Update #1: Trump escalates war on Twitter, social media protections (AP)
Update #2: Trump move could scrap or weaken law that protects social media companies (Reuters)
WNU Editor: As to what is my position. I agree with former Vice-President Biden. He is calling to do exactly what President Trump wants to do.
Unreal. It's like the Biden campaign doesn't even track what their candidate says.— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) May 29, 2020
Here's Biden in December, telling the New York Times editorial board that "Section 230 should be revoked immediately" for tech companies
"It should be revoked. It should be revoked." https://t.co/o4rWRjuoyI pic.twitter.com/nScOFUoouE
