On May 26, 2020, President Trump made a number of false tweets regarding mail-in voting in the 2020 election this November. Twitter “fact-checked” his tweet and flagged it, posting a little message that sais “Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” noting that the tweet contained false information. This prompted outrage from the president.
The move by Twitter prompted outrage from Trump and his supporters, and he lashed out at Twitter (and other big tech companies), saying the following
In addition, various members from the GOP tweeted about the matter, with a general consensus that Twitter’s actions were unacceptable and should be punished, and that Twitter’s actions were interfering with the 2020 election.
And so, President Trump is now preparing to sign an executive order against social media companies that would remove their immunity that these companies have over speech on their sites, making a change to a law known as Section 230. This law is supposed to allow tech companies from being held liable for the content posted on their platforms. The law has also been criticized in the past, as it allowed these tech companies to not take responsibility for hate speech, false news (especially regarding elections), and terrorist propaganda. This new order may change the scope of the law, which could have vast implications on freedom of speech and the internet in general.
However, even once the order is signed into place, it will be up to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to determine what action will be taken. These commissions are independent and are outside the president’s cabinet, so it will be interesting to see what happens.