The sarcasm on my post was that Conservatives actually will NOT protest; when Trumps nice, lawyer-ly written EO is meant to use Censorship…to prevent Censorship?
I will say it again. This was all prompted by the fact that Twitter tagged one of Trump’s Tweets for misleading information on mail-in balloting. That’s it.
I personally think that Twitter was dumb as a rock to stir Trump’s ire. But they did. If they were going to be that stupid, then they need to face whatever consequences come their way.
Didn’t Obama have a Democrat Congress for some time? Aren’t some states governed by Democrat governors and legislatures? Republicans are onboard so why couldn’t the Democrats have done it then?
How is this executive order a use of censorship? I read it as a directive for a legal review that’s past-due. It doesn’t restrict anyone from choosing to publish whatever content they want, provided they play by the long-standing rules of publishing. It will definitely be challenged, and it probably needs to play out in courts to some degree.
Meanwhile the FCC and Congress continue to operate independently of the executive branch, do they not?
The civil liability protections are available as long as a service provider sticks to removing “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable”. “Otherwise objectionable” is pretty broad and not unlimited, but it would include blatant misinformation and falsehoods.
Trump’s aim is to get rid of a service provider’s ability to censor misinformation under the “otherwise objectionable” category - he’s worried they’ll start shutting down his Tweets when they start fact-checking them - which is exactly what preceded this EO.
So your position is that companies who received protection from defamation lawsuits under the claim they were merely platforms for speech and who now editorialize and de-platform speech they don’t like should still receive protection after becoming, in actuality, content creators due to their selective publishing of said speech? Am I correct?
You responded to it. The Dems had control of the Executive and Legislative offices. Many governors and legislatures are also under the Dems control. Could they not have passed voter ID laws? You claimed they couldn’t.
Yes. This was obvious to me as well. Trump’s timing is obviously politically-motivated, but the substance of this EO has been a subject of national discussion for some time now. I consider it a subject of the utmost importance, deserving of a second look from whatever the thought process of 1996 was. I think now is better than later.
I suppose this brings us to the question of whether we want service providers in that role. In simple terms, does this EO simply direct all of the relevant agencies to ponder this question?
What we need is a good old Ministry of Truth. Who decides what is or isn’t misinformation? Do free people not have the right to decide for themselves. Pretty elitist to think not.
This is all going to backfire on all of the people screaming “Hell YEAH!” to how “tough” Trump is getting on these services.
Why? Because all of his legalese hides Trump’s true intention. Trump could give two-shits about “free speech”…only TRUMP free-speech. And he is pissed.
I’m all for Congressional Review. Bring it on. If these companies are truly showing a bias against Conservatives and Conservative ideas (which if you are honest, is really the basis of the EO)…let’s get it out in hearings.
But as the old saying goes: Be careful what you ask for…