US President Donald Trump signs executive order 'defending free speech' after Twitter row

Days after a row with Twitter over fact-check of his tweets, President Donald Trump on Thursday has signed an executive order targeting social media companies and has called out the 'selective censorship' by some online platforms. Briefing the reporters about the order from the Oval Office, Trump has said that it is aimed at defending free speech from one of the 'gravest danger.'

Clarifying that the power distribution among online platforms was 'un-American and anti-democratic', Trump in his executive order said that the country cannot allow a 'limited number of online platforms to handpick the speech that Americans may access'. Even as Trump assured that he is for a 'free and open debate' on the internet, he said: "Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense if not unprecedented power to shape the interpretation of public events; to censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or do not see." The order directs executive branch agencies to ask independent rule-making agencies including the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to study whether they can place new regulations on the companies.

Moreover, Trump went on to accuse the online platforms of amplifying China’s propaganda abroad - "they are allowing Chinese government officials to use their platforms to spread misinformation regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to undermine pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong."

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Upping his attack on Twitter, Trump said: "Twitter now selectively decides to place a warning label on certain tweets in a manner that clearly reflects political bias.  As has been reported, Twitter seems never to have placed such a label on another politician’s tweet.  As recently as last week, Representative Adam Schiff was continuing to mislead his followers by peddling the long-disproved Russian Collusion Hoax, and Twitter did not flag those tweets.  Unsurprisingly, its officer in charge of so-called ‘Site Integrity’ has flaunted his political bias in his own tweets." 

Here is the order:

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Twitter flags  Trump's error

On Tuesday, Twitter flagged Donald Trump's tweets regarding mail-in ballots, calling it 'potentially misleading.' Trump had tweeted: “Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed”.

Shortly after his tweets were flagged, Trump lashed out at Twitter stating that the social networking firm is 'interfering' with the US Presidential elections. Trump went on to threaten that as the President, he will 'not allow' the 'stifling of free speech'. Trump's campaign team for the upcoming elections also released a statement explaining that Twitter was trying to stop the President's message go through to the voters.

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Twitter CEO defends 'fact-checking'

However, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated that the social networking site would 'continue to point out incorrect information' about elections globally. In a series of tweets, Jack Dorsey claimed that Trump's tweets on mail-in-ballots could mislead people into thinking that they did not need to register for a ballot which could cause chaos since only registered voters receive ballots. Dorsey also took full responsibility for this move saying that while Twitter was not an 'arbiter of truth', it's intention was to provide correct information alongside conflicting statements to let people be the ultimate judge. 

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