“For freedom of expression?” Signed an executive order to expand the US SNS regulations

In the United States, operators have been indemnified by Article 230 of the Communications Act for user postings posted on the Internet. However, President Trump, who clarified his confrontation with Twitter and other social media operators, signed a presidential decree including a review of Article 230 of the Communications Act on the grounds that it is for freedom of speech, the foundation of American democracy.

The Presidential Decree states that the freedom of expression stipulated in Article 1 of the U.S. Amendment is the foundation of U.S. democracy, and the social media that has grown with the development of communication technology is expressed as a plaza of the 21st century. I admit that is a valuable thing to sustain democracy.

On the other hand, it is pointed out that companies operating social media infringe on freedom of speech by conducting selective censorship. Specifically, it manipulates information to control humans from seeing or not. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube were selected. Among them, it is pointed out that Twitter is clearly choosing to give warning labels to specific Tweets to reflect political bias.

It is stipulated in Article 230 of the Communication Act that social media operators are not required to be legally liable except for exceptions to the content posted by users, but the Presidential Decree says that if the operator conducts censorship and editing of the content of the posts, they must be liable like general publishers. have.

Of course, there is increasing opposition from the social media side, saying that it will adversely affect the US position as a leader in the economy and free internet world, and that the internet media will become disabled rather than free. There are also voices that question the effectiveness and point out that what President Trump himself wrote on social media will return as a boomerang. Related information can be found here .