Trump will reportedly sign an executive order 'pertaining to social media' on Thursday, shortly after he accused Twitter of squashing free speech (TWTR, GOOG, GOOGL, FB, AAPL)
- Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the President plans to issue an executive order "pertaining to social media," several White House reporters aboard Air Force One tweeted on Wednesday.
- McEnany gave no details about what Trump's order would do, but said it will be signed on Thursday, according to PBS Newshour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.
- The Washington Post reported that the order may encourage federal agencies to investigate tech companies' moderation policies and narrow Section 230, which shields them from legal liability for content published on their platforms.
- Law professor Kate Klonick tweeted that she had obtained a draft of the order, saying it would argue that fact-checking is "editorial" speech and thus isn't protected under Section 230. Business Insider could not immediately confirm this.
- The proposed order comes after Twitter added a fact-checking label Tuesday to the president's tweets that falsely claiming mail-in voting is linked to fraud.
- Trump responded by ranting against Twitter, on Twitter, accusing the company of "interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election" and silencing conservative voices.
- Legal experts have expressed doubt that Trump has the legal authority to regulate social media companies in the way he has threatened, citing free speech protections.
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McEnany offered no details about what the directive may include, but The Washington Post reported that it could empower various federal agencies to penalize social media companies such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google for their content moderation practices.
Two officials familiar with the order told the paper it would: task the US Commerce Department with asking the Federal Communications Commission to look at narrowing the scope of Section 230; send complaints about political bias to the Federal Trade Commission, which could then investigate social media companies' content moderation practices; and require federal agencies to conduct a review of their social media advertising spending.
Kate Klonick, a law professor at St. John's University and fellow at Yale University' Information Society Project, tweeted late Wednesday that she had obtained a draft of the order. She said the order may argue that fact-checking falls under "editorial conduct" and therefore isn't protected under Section 230.
Klonick also said the order could also prohibit federal agencies from advertising on platforms that violate the editorial conduct part of Section 230.
Business Insider could not immediately verify the draft she says she received.
Trump's proposed order came after Twitter's decision earlier this week to add a fact-checking label to Trump's tweets that falsely claimed vote-by-mail ballots are linked to fraud.
Twitter added a link below the tweets with the text: "Get the facts about mail-in ballots" which took users to a page where fact-checkers had debunked the unsubstantiated claims.
There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone.....— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
Following reports of Trump's planned executive order, Twitter responded by saying Trump had violated its policy against "manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes," which "includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process."
"We added a label to two @realDonaldTrump Tweets about California's vote-by-mail plans as part of our efforts to enforce our civic integrity policy. We believe those Tweets could confuse voters about what they need to do to receive a ballot and participate in the election process," the company said in a tweet Wednesday evening.
We added a label to two @realDonaldTrump Tweets about California’s vote-by-mail plans as part of our efforts to enforce our civic integrity policy. We believe those Tweets could confuse voters about what they need to do to receive a ballot and participate in the election process.— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) May 28, 2020
Last year, the White House drafted a proposal aimed at penalizing platforms for alleged bias against conservatives — a claim that conservatives have frequently raised but have yet to provide evidence to support. Earlier on Wednesday, a federal judge tossed a lawsuit that claimed Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Google conspired to suppress conservative views online, Bloomberg reported.
It's also likely that Trump doesn't have the legal grounds to issue such regulations, according to multiple experts who told Business Insider that the First Amendment, Section 230, and other legal protections give private companies broad rights around regulating content on their platforms.
However, Trump's order could drag social media companies into a fight over Section 230 that they've been desperately trying to avoid. The legal shield it provides, which was instrumental in the development of the modern internet, has become a hotly debated issue in recent years from both sides of the aisle.
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