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After Twitter fact-checked President Donald Trump’s tweets on Tuesday, Trump has quickly retaliated. On Thursday, Trump is expected to sign an executive order aimed at social media companies.
In an incredibly quick turn of events, Trump has taken action against Twitter after they fact-checked his tweets on Tuesday. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Wednesday evening that Trump is expected to sign an order on Thursday.
The order would seek to stop the way social media platforms block content. Trump and his allies claim that companies like Facebook and Twitter are attempting to silence GOP voices. The online industry worries that Trump will target a 1996 statute that protects companies from lawsuits.
The statute gives the companies broad leeway to remove posts considered “objectionable,” but Trump believes they are abusing this power. No one in 1996 foresaw the unprecedented evolution of cellphones, social media and public discussion that would occur by 2020.
“These platforms act like they are potted plants when [in reality] they are curators of user experiences, i.e. the man behind the curtain for everything we can see or hear,” said a Trump administration official.
The official warned that the language of the statute might change on Thursday.
Related: Trump Accuses Twitter of Election Interference for Fact-Checking His Tweets
On Tuesday, President Trump posted two tweets that said mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud. However, this isn’t true and has never been proven.
Twitter labeled the tweets as “potentially misleading,” and provided a link to a carefully curated fact-check page that debunked Trump’s assertions.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained why they fact-checked the President late Wednesday night. In a tweet, he wrote:
“Per our Civic Integrity policy, the tweets yesterday may mislead people into thinking they don’t need to register to get a ballot (only registered voters receive ballots). We’re updating the link on @realDonaldTrump’s tweet to make this more clear.”
Per our Civic Integrity policy (https://t.co/uQ0AoPtoCm), the tweets yesterday may mislead people into thinking they don’t need to register to get a ballot (only registered voters receive ballots). We’re updating the link on @realDonaldTrump’s tweet to make this more clear.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
Related: Trump Fears Mail-In Voting for This Reason, but He’s Wrong
Dorsey’s words were in response to a statement made by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg knocked Twitter for fact-checking Trump, claiming privately-owned digital platforms shouldn’t act as an “arbiter of truth.”
“We have a different policy than, I think, Twitter on this,” said Zuckerberg to Fox News’ Dana Perino.
“I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online,” he said. “Private companies probably shouldn’t be, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that.”
In response to Trump taking action against Twitter, Zuckerberg said, “I have to understand what they actually would intend to do. But in general, I think a government choosing to censor a platform because they’re worried about censorship doesn’t exactly strike me as the right reflex there.”
Twitter’s CEO responded to Zuckerberg’s statement, saying that “We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to any mistakes that we make.”
This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.” Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
Related: Mitt Romney Condemns Trump for Pushing Scarborough Conspiracy Theory
