Friday, August 16, 2019



Leaked Draft of Trump Executive Order to 'Censor the Internet' Denounced as Dangerous, Unconstitutional Edict

We will have to see the final form of it -- if any -- before we can say much about it.  The report below is from Leftist sources so may be seriously distorted

Civil liberties groups are warning of a major threat to online freedoms and First Amendment rights if a leaked draft of a Trump administration edict—dubbed by critics as a "Censor the Internet" executive order that would give powerful federal agencies far-reaching powers to pick and choose which kind of Internet material is and is not acceptable—is allowed to go into effect.

According to CNN, which obtained a copy of the draft, the new rule "calls for the FCC to develop new regulations clarifying how and when the law protects social media websites when they decide to remove or suppress content on their platforms. Although still in its early stages and subject to change, the Trump administration's draft order also calls for the Federal Trade Commission to take those new policies into account when it investigates or files lawsuits against misbehaving companies."

While Politico was the first to report how the draft was being circulated by the White House, CNN notes that if put into effect, "the order would reflect a significant escalation by President Trump in his frequent attacks against social media companies over an alleged but unproven systemic bias against conservatives by technology platforms. And it could lead to a significant reinterpretation of a law that, its authors have insisted, was meant to give tech companies broad freedom to handle content as they see fit."

SOURCE 



5 comments:

Stan B said...

The "platforms" are no longer neutral providers of public forum space, but have become the arbiters of "acceptable opinion," and have abandoned their role as simple platforms. They have become editorial review boards, and need to be held to the same standards as publishers. Either codify your rules of conduct and enforce them across the board, or drop them altogether. Selective enforcement (as we see all the time with social media and conservative opinions) makes you a publisher, not a platform.

Anonymous said...

So the claim is that Trump is trying to censor the internet by trying to stop left wing social media companies from censoring the internet?

Anonymous said...

"over an alleged but unproven systemic bias against conservatives"

Unproven? really?

Bill R. said...

Google censors conservative info every. single. day. The Google whistleblower has many documents proving that very fact.

Bird of Paradise said...

Obama violated the U.S. Constitution all the time while these owlhoots turned their backs on the whole matter