Trump’s social media order will have the opposite effect he wants, tech experts warn.
, the law that distinguishes tech platforms from publishers by shielding them from liability for their users' posts. Congress and the Justice Department have both taken up reviews of Section 230 in the past year.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum have criticized the statute, though most have tread lightly given that the law also allows tech platforms to engage in good faith content moderation, like removing terrorist posts.that would grant Section 230 protections to tech companies' only if they submitted to regular audits of their algorithms and content moderation practices to assess their political neutrality. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a bill earlier this year that would tie the protections to compliance with certain standards around child exploitation detection and reporting. Tech groups, a privacy-focused process that obscures the messages between users from outsiders. Daniel Castro, the vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation , said in a statement on the working draft that Trump's order "is an inappropriate use of the powers of the presidency and opens the door to legitimize similar actions by other political leaders around the world." ITIF is a non-profit think tank that has received funding from telecommunications industry groups, according to tax forms compiled by the The Center for Public Integrity. "The long-term impact of such retaliatory policies would be a chilling of free speech online, especially counter-speech, a rise in disinformation, and a decline in innovative social media platforms," Castro said.Google"All Americans should be concerned to find a U.S. president issuing executive orders in response to a company that challenges the veracity of his statements," Schruers said in a statement ahead of Trump's press conference Thursday. "Social media companies -- and all Americans -- have an inviolable right to comment on what our government says. Ultimately we have to ask: are we a nation that tolerates its President retaliating against private companies for questioning his words?"Outside of the tech industry, others criticized the use of an executive order in an attempt to roll back Section 230 protections. "This does not work. Social media can be frustrating. But an Executive Order that would turn the Federal Communications Commission into the President's speech police is not the answer," Democratic Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement prior to the release of the finalized order. According to the working draft of the order, the FCC would be charged with creating rules about when content removal should be deemed "deceptive." "It's time for those in Washington to speak up for the First Amendment. History won't be kind to silence," she said. While the executive order could reinvigorate the conversation around Section 230 that's been overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the action is limited without a change to the law from Congress. Courts have consistently upheld the liability protection. Rosenworcel's Democratic FCC colleague, Geoffrey Starks, said in a statement he'd review the full executive order once it's released, "but one thing is clear: the First Amendment and Section 230 remain the law of the land and control here." Starks said the focus should remain on connecting Americans to broadband service during the coronavirus crisis. Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said in a tweet that Trump "has [a] right to seek review of [the] statute's application." While he said that like Trump, he's "troubled voices are stifled by liberal tech leaders," O'Rielly said, "I'm extremely dedicated to First Amendment which governs much here."
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