BREAKING: The executive order was signed at 4:30 today
“Big Tech is doing everything in their very considerable power to CENSOR in advance of the 2020 Election,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday night. “If that happens, we no longer have our freedom. I will never let it happen! They tried hard in 2016, and lost. Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!” Trump Tweeted today
“In a country that has long cherished the freedom of expression, we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand-pick the speech that Americans may access and convey online,” the draft reads. “When large, powerful social media companies censor opinions with which they disagree, they exercise a dangerous power.”
The White House broadly argues that the top social media platforms should be treated as “public squares” within which speech is protected by the First Amendment, while the tech industry has argued that the law enables private companies to make choices about how they treat content on their platforms, Protocol reported
One section of the order would require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a small agency within the Department of Commerce, to file a petition asking the FCC to review Section 230, tech’s prized liability shield. The section heavily implies that online platforms could be considered publishers of content under certain circumstances — and therefore could be held directly responsible for the content they host, Protocl Explained
Read the entire executive order by clicking here
