President of the United States Donald trump signed the Executive decree aimed at regulating the activities of social networks and to eliminate some legal protections that they are provided with. Representatives of Twitter and other social media platforms already condemned the document, calling it “reactionary” and “politically motivated”. But what are the implications and how feasible the disposal of the American leader will try to understand.
recently Donald trump stepped up his criticism against such media platforms as Twitter and Facebook, and even accused them of suppression of “conservative voices” in social networks. Therefore, there is no doubt that the decree – which is expected a priori may encounter legal problems did not appear by accident.
Twitter recently marked two publications in the microblog of the American leader as inauthentic. In one of them the President of the United States warned of possible fraud in the event of a vote by mail. Trump criticized the social network, but to delete your account did not, to be able to appeal to citizens directly.
Now the U.S. President is confident that after the entry of the decree in force, Americans will be protected from undue censorship on the Internet. In particular, from the removal of the leadership of the social networks user-generated posts, special markings posts and even lock accounts.
According to the American leader, at present, the giants of social networks has received an “unprecedented shield of viability, based on the theory that they are neutral platforms.” However, according to trump, it’s not.
“We’re sick of this by now, – said the President of the United States. – Executive decree aims to implement the new regulation on the basis of section 230 of the Law on ethics in the field of communications. The social network implicated in censorship or political action will no longer have protection from liability.”
According to the law, adopted in 1996, the operators of the web sites, unlike traditional publishers, as a rule, cannot be held responsible for the content posted by users.
in addition, these sites also are protected from lawsuits if they block messages that are recognized, in their opinion, obscene, violent “or otherwise objectionable, regardless of whether or not such materials are constitutional”.
Now, under the new Executive decree trump that immunity will no longer apply if the social network is editing the message, for example, adding the special warning sign.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio said that social networks perform the role of “editor”.
“the Law still protects social media companies such as Twitter, because they are midrange��melt the forums, not the publishers – said the Senator. But if they now decided to take on the editorial role, they will no longer be protected from liability.”
in addition, the decree calls for the Federal trade Commission (FTC) of the United States, which should clearly define what type of content locking will be considered “deceptive or unfair practice.”
“When a large, powerful social media company censor views with which they disagree, it gives them dangerous power, — as stated in the document. – They lose their value as a passive forums for communication and should be treated as creators of content”.
In practical terms, the decree trump might indicate that such major technology companies as Twitter, Facebook and Google will have a hard to moderate posts in social networks in order to avoid potential lawsuits.
the Reaction from representatives of the Internet companies do not have to wait long. So, in Twitter called this order “the reactionary and politicized,” adding that section 230 “protects American innovation and freedom of expression and is based on democratic values”.
And it seems that Twitter has struck back: another tweet trump – this time about the situation in Minneapolis was marked as violating the ban on the glorification of violence. We are talking about a post in which the US President wrote that may be sent to the Minneapolis National guard. Thus, according to him, the mayor or Jacob Frey will take action, or he will do “everything right”, and the national guard will take control of the situation.
the report, which now accompanies the tagged tweet, the White house said that the people at Twitter decided not to close access since this post “may constitute a subject of public interest.”
Representatives of Google said that the change of the act of 1996 “will harm the economy of America and its global leadership in the field of Internet freedom”.
“Our platform has empowered a wide range of people and organizations from across the political spectrum, giving them a voice and new ways of reaching their audience,” – said in a statement to Bi-bi-si.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, may 27, CEO of Facebook mark Zuckerberg said that censorship in relation to social networking is “wrong reaction” of the government, which is concerned about the restrictions imposed by media platforms.
“I just firmly believe that Facebook should not be the arbiter of the truth of everything that people say on the Internet,” – said Zuckerberg.
In any case, I don’t have time to dry the ink on the signature trump under his decree, as many experts have suggested that it is unlikely that this document will be implemented in full, as presidential decree will be immediately challenged in court. And approved by Congress, this document, judging by the statements of speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi does not Shine.
