President Trump’s furor over Twitter linking fact-checking articles to his tweets over mail-in voter fraud has reached a new phase.
Today, Trump is expected to issue an executive order targeting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law will order the FCC and FTC to roll back liability protections for tech companies, which would include social media platforms.
Among the critics of the president’s actions is U.S. Senator Ron Wyden. The Oregon Democrat says Trump is targeting those who’d hold him accountable for false and misleading statements.
“Section 230 was written because it protects private businesses’ right not to have to play host to his lies," Wyden tells KLCC. He and California Republican Senator Chris Cox wrote the legislation in 1996.
"And that was the value of it, it provides the tools to make sure that you can moderate content that’s really just a pure lie.”
Twitter’s action on Trump’s voter fraud tweet follows widespread criticism of its allowing the president to repeat a baseless murder conspiracy theory against former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough.
Copyright 2020, KLCC.
