Donald Trump's move could scrap or weaken law that protects social media companies

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Trump wants to 'remove or change' a provision of a law known as Section 230 that shields social media companies from liability for content posted by their users.

Twitter called the order "a reactionary and politicised approach to a landmark law" and said attempts to weaken Section 230 would "threaten the future of online speech."

"In terms of presidential efforts to limit critical commentary about themselves, I think one would have to go back to the Sedition Act of 1798 - which made it illegal to say false things about the president and certain other public officials - to find an attack supposedly rooted in law by a president on any entity which comments or prints comments about public issues and public people," said First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams.

Trump, who uses Twitter virtually every day to promote his policies and insult his opponents, has long claimed without evidence that the site is biased in favor of Democrats. He and his supporters have leveled the same unsubstantiated charges against Facebook, which Trump's presidential campaign uses heavily as an advertising vehicle.

The protections of Section 230 have been under fire for different reasons from lawmakers including Big Tech critic Senator Josh Hawley. Critics argue that they give internet companies a free pass on things like hate speech and content that supports terror organisations. After labeling Trump's tweets, Twitter continued to add fact-checking and 'manipulated media' labels on hundreds of other tweets.

 

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