WILL DONALD TRUMP SUCCEED SHUTTING DOWN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TECH GIANTS?

The president was fact checked on social media recently

 

Donald Trump is getting crankier day by day, and this time, his targets are social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The US President is introducing a law that can potentially break down the internet world and lead to massive losses. But why is he doing it and will he succeed in his plans? Read on to know the full story.

 

It all started when Twitter decided to fact check Donald Trump. As usual, Donald Trump lied to Twitter on Tuesday, but unlike every time, Twitter didn’t keep quiet about it. The social media platform called out the US President on it.

In a series of Tweets, Donald Trump had claimed that providing mail-in ballots to residents of California would lead to a rigged election. Twitter responded by appending each of the tweets with a note that implored readers to “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”

When readers clicked on the link, they were re-directed to a series of articles that implied how the tweets by Donald Trump were misleading.

 

Explaining its stand, a spokesperson of Twitter explained the decision by stating “These Tweets contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labelled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots. This decision is in line with the approach we shared earlier this month.”

As expected, Donald Trump didn’t take kindly to this decision. He responded by Tweeting “@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election. They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post….”He also wrote “….Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!”

 

This time Donald Trump’s actions spoke louder than words as he has signed an Executive order on Thursday that will prevent social media giants like Facebook and Twitter from doing anything to stop him.

According to leaked drafts of the Executive Order, Donald Trump plans to direct federal agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission to review liability limits. These limits prevent social media companies from being sued if they host content that is not appropriate.

He plans to change the Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that says that an internet company can’t be held liable for the speech from third parties that is hosted on their websites.

 

If Donald Trump succeeds in making it a reality, the change can potentially destroy many social media companies. Corynne McSherry, the Legal Director at Electronic Frontier Foundation, said “Frankly, a lot of social media platforms wouldn’t be around anymore, because they won’t be able to afford the legal risks. One of the big ironies here is that Section 230 protects, arguably, a lot of what President Trump posts online.”

Many experts believe that Donald Trump can’t change the said Act with an Executive Order. The Professor of Law at the William & Mary School of Law, Timothy Zick, said “The FCC doesn’t enforce the relevant law — state and federal courts do that. President Trump can urge Congress to amend or repeal Section 230, but he doesn’t need an executive order to do that.”

 

McSherry agreed that the Executive Order, if implemented, probably won’t change much. She said

“It’s going to face legal challenges right away. We’re not going to see anything take effect anytime soon.”

So, Donald Trump’s move and threats are mostly to ensure that Facebook and Twitter keep allowing him to spread misinformation.

Mark Zuckerberg has already bowed down to the President’s power when he stressed on Fox News that Facebook won’t do anything like what Twitter did. He said “We have a different policy than Twitter on this. I believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.”

 

The Co-CEO of Free Press, Jessica González, believes that social media companies shouldn’t bow down to the pressure. She said, “President Trump will continue his attacks on free speech and the courts will strike them down but, in the meantime, we expect social media companies to not bend on their responsibility to protect the lives of users and our democracy on their platforms.”

Even if Donald Trump fails to change the law, it won’t hurt him much as he is thriving on Twitter. Even the Republican party’s message is spreading widely on Facebook. In all probability, he just wants to warn Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to not mess with him.

 

It is the first time Twitter has checked Donald Trump’s behaviour on the website. Twitter has made it clear that it will never delete Trump’s tweets or ban the President.

Prominent technology giants have reacted to the Section 230 order. Twitter called it “a reactionary and politicized approach to a landmark law” and stated that Section 230 “protects American innovation and freedom of expression, and it’s underpinned by democratic values”.

 

Google that owns YouTube stated that changing Section 230 would “hurt America’s economy and its global leadership on internet freedom.” It added “We have clear content policies and we enforce them without regard to political viewpoint. Our platforms have empowered a wide range of people and organizations from across the political spectrum, giving them a voice and new ways to reach their audiences.”

It will be interesting to see how the battle between tech giants and Donald Trump will turn out to be in the future. We’ll definitely keep you posted.