He plans to sign a strategic Order today, giving the government enormous new powers on the Internet. Trump will order the Fed and the Federative Trade Commission to re-roll the liability protections that tech companies enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, according to The Washington Post, yesterday. It's a tremendously ambitious proposal, perhaps the biggest attempt to regulate internet platforms, and it signals the start of an all-out war between Trump and every platform that attempts to check the facts.
"This is going to be a great day for social media and the FAIRNESS," Trump said ominously on Twitter. ”
Section 230 is sometimes called the most important law on the Internet and does not hold companies to the greatest extent in their discretion to speak on their own platform. Specifically, it means that you can't sue Twitter for prohibiting or forbidding a particular account — though many have tried it.
The order today seems to be the same executive order that was rumored by the Commissioner of the FCC in August 2019. The fundamental idea is that the FTC (usually responsible for consumer protection) must file complaints about bias. If a company has been found unfairly to delete or delete content from the FCC (usually responsible for the telecommunications infrastructure) in the executive order to determine whether it does not qualify for the provisions of section 230 of the "good faith." Basically, the FCC will now decide whether the legal protections underlying its business model are permitted for technical platforms.
At that time the idea was deeply skeptical and many believed that it was shelved. But it seems like it's back on the table after Trump's fact-checking fight with Twitter.
A leaked draft of the order is being circulated online and provides a basis for revoking their 230 safeguards and why and how the FCC should litigate the process. Section 230, which has for many years been controversial, is the best way to reinforce technology companies in congress. But without Congress and a more and more hands-on FCC with the huge task of proceedings, the role of the government would have changed considerably.
All this presents enormous legal problems. The biggest amendment is the First, which impedes private speech restriction by the US administration. Tell Twitter how and when it can moderate will look very much like limiting the private speech of the company — especially when it comes to adding content instead of blocking it. In practical terms , it means that a legal challenge is sure to argue that the order is unconstitutional and will hamstring the FCC 's attempted actions.
This isn't the only legal issue, but I don't know we have the opportunity to get through it all.
It is not obvious, indeed, that you can change 230 without congressional approval (which is part of the law, let 's remember). And even if you can, every usual problem with 230 changes still applies. It's not just going to hit Twitter. Suddenly, the FCC would be responsible for YouTube, Craigslist and any comments on the web.
But it is almost next to the point to ask what would happen if this were implemented. As we noted yesterday, Trump wants more than a policy to fight with Big Tech. (Twitter isn't Big Tech exactly, but it's better all; bullies don't like to choose somebody their own size.)
Today, Trump begins this fight seriously, and at present it has enormous implications for all companies on the Internet. The President is ready to make a campaign of intimidation against anyone who tries to limit what his campaign can and can say in the following six months as he tries to distract from the continuing public health crises. The big question is how many companies will react on backbone platforms.
