"Our" president

Also today...

A draft of the order obtained by Business Insider shows Trump is mainly attempting to empower federal regulators to re-interpret and amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to make it more difficult for tech companies to moderate content on their platforms.

It would direct the FCC and FTC to change the way Section 230 is interpreted, regulated, and applied, and it would allow for users to complain if they think the companies are acting in a way that goes against their terms of service.Legal and tech policy experts told Business Insider that some sections of the draft executive order are not legal at all and other parts would require government agencies to throw out years of judicial interpretation of Section 230. "This is not how the Constitution works," said Ashkhen Kazaryan, the director of civil liberties at libertarian technology policy think tank Tech Freedom. "The First Amendment protects Twitter from Trump, it does not protect Trump from Twitter."

  Business Insider

That was then. This is now.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act [...] gives social-media companies broad authority to moderate speech on their platforms. Section 230 also stipulates that tech companies are largely not responsible for comments and other content that users post on their platforms.

Trump's order calls for tech companies to lose their Section 230 protection if they do anything to discriminate against users, restrict their access to a platform without giving them a fair hearing, or take other action that isn't in line with the terms of service.

The draft also says that within 30 days of its signing, the Secretary of Commerce should file a petition for rulemaking within the Federal Communications Commission for regulations that clarify the scope of Section 230.

[...]

"As President, I have made clear my commitment to free and open debate on the Internet. Such debate is just as important online as it is in our universities, our businesses, our newspapers and our homes," the draft reads. "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."

Hmmm. That's interesting, because Twitter didn't change anything he tweeted or take it down. They just added a note that users should verify and gave them a link to an article that claimed it wasn't true.

Twitter's alert linked to a "Moments" page titled "Trump makes unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud" that listed a series of facts contradicting his claims.

[...]

"It ignores 25 years of jurisprudence broadly interpreting Section 230," said Kate Klonick, a professor of internet law at St. John's University, who added that the draft order is mostly pandering to Trump's base of conservative voters who have come to believe internet platform companies are biased against them.

"It doesn't seem like it's enforceable. It will be smacked down relatively quickly by injunction or by litigation and the courts," Klonick said.

At least until Trumpland takes it to the Supreme Court.

Two of the agencies listed in the executive order, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, are independent and enforcement of any executive order is ultimately up to them. Historically, the FCC has also had no authority to enforce Section 230.

It's also doubtful the FCC will do what Trump is directing them to do, said Ashkhen Kazaryan, director of civil liberties at libertarian technology policy think tank Tech Freedom.

"Based on the track record of [FCC chairman] Ajit Pai, he has been lobbied to police speech many times and he has not succumbed to any of those pressures," she said.

Yeah? Well, Trump designated Pai as chairman. He can choose someone else.

[T]he National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is part of the Department of Commerce, is an executive branch agency and therefore more likely to carry out the president's orders.

Adam Candeub, deputy assistant secretary at NTIA has also indicated that he's not a fan of Section 230 and has advocated for reforming it, writing in Forbes last summer that the law "protects Big Tech censorship in the U.S."

[...]

"Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices," Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning. "We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen."

[...]

First Amendment experts say he does not have the power to regulate or shut down social-media companies because he disagrees with them.

"What we mean when we say free speech and First Amendment rights is about what the government can regulate when it comes to speech, not the decisions of private actors," said Jennifer Huddleston, director of technology and innovation policy at the American Action Forum, a center-right think tank.

[...]

The president could issue executive orders like the one he signed on Thursday, try to push federal agencies to regulate Twitter, or ask Congress to pass legislation on the matter, "but none will be fast or help him before November," [sad Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia.]

His election may be the main point, but his desire to punish people who don't kowtow and praise him is the other.

And Mark Zuckerberg is willing to play along.

Indeed, on Wednesday evening, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took aim at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, telling Fox News in an interview, "I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online."

Dorsey hit back at Zuckerberg, tweeting, "We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make. This does not make us an 'arbiter of truth.'"

And don't ever let Republicans tell you they don't like government regulations.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  Also...Mark Zuckerberg is okay with Facebook being an arbiter of the truth in some cases.

UPDATE: