Bengaluru: Unites States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that makes social media platforms liable for editing contents of users. 

 

“In a country that has long cherished the freedom of expression, we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand pick the speech that Americans may access and convey on the internet.  This practice is fundamentally un-American and anti-democratic. When large, powerful social media companies censor opinions with which they disagree, they exercise a dangerous power.  They cease functioning as passive bulletin boards, and ought to be viewed and treated as content creators,“ the executive order reads. 

 

It is to be noted that Trump has repeatedly accused social media of curbing freedom to express. 

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The move is seen as a retaliation by Trump after Twitter flagged a fact-check label on a series of tweets in which the president raised questions on the integrity of voting-by-mail and suggested that it was susceptible to fraud.

The executive order points out that points out that legal immunity does not apply if a social network edits content posted by its users, and calls for legislation from Congress to "remove or change" section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. 

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“Section 230 was not intended to allow a handful of companies to grow into titans controlling vital avenues for our national discourse under the guise of promoting open forums for debate, and then to provide those behemoths blanket immunity when they use their power to censor content and silence viewpoints that they dislike.” the order pointed out. 

“When an interactive computer service provider removes or restricts access to content and its actions do not meet the criteria of subparagraph (c)(2)(A), it is engaged in editorial conduct.  It is the policy of the United States that such a provider should properly lose the limited liability shield of subparagraph (c)(2)(A) and be exposed to liability like any traditional editor and publisher that is not an online provider.“ the executive order read.