Trump’s Social-Media Order Is a Gift to Disinformation Bots, Experts Say – By Patrick Tucker (Nextgov) / May 29 2020
But much of the order may be legally unenforceable.
A new presidential order targeting social media companies for perceived bias would hurt their ability to block bots and defuse disinformation, experts and lawmakers say.
The order seeks to limit legal protections for companies that run online platforms, according to a draft revealed on Thursday. The order argues that a social-media company that labels factually inaccurate tweets as such, for example, forfeits its immunity from libel suits — a protection granted by section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, or CDA — because it is acting as a traditional editor and publisher, not a neutral platform.
The order goes on to instruct the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, to propose regulations to govern how social media companies can punish rule breakers, such as by suspending accounts or purging content. It instructs the FCC to make sure that such actions are taken “within good faith” of the CDA.
That could mean social media companies would have to try to notify users before taking action. The order also gives the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, broad authority to propose further rules and regulations for social media companies “that the NTIA concludes may be appropriate to advance the policy described…”
The order follows complaints from right-wing groups who have said that they are unfairly targeted for suspension and content removal by the platforms’ moderators.
Continue to article: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/05/trumps-social-media-order-gift-disinformation-bots-experts-say/165752/
