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The executive order Trump could use to take on Twitter and Facebook
protocol ^ | May 28th, 2020 | Emily Birnbaum

Posted on 05/28/2020 9:29:20 AM PDT by Mariner

A draft of an executive order that President Donald Trump may sign as soon as Thursday could dramatically expand the government's ability to punish social media platforms, marking the Trump administration's most aggressive salvo yet in its battle against alleged anti-conservative bias on platforms including Twitter and Facebook.

A draft of the expansive executive order, circulated to stakeholders and obtained by Protocol late Wednesday night, would pull multiple levers of governmental power — including federal agencies, the U.S. attorney general and the White House — in order to blast the tech giants over allegations that their platforms censor conservative voices. The executive order comes on the heels of a bitter, days-long fight over Twitter's decision to fact-check one of Trump's recent tweets — and five months before the presidential election, signaling that Trump believes it could be a galvanizing issue for his base amid a pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S.

"Big Tech is doing everything in their very considerable power to CENSOR in advance of the 2020 Election," Trump tweeted on Wednesday night. "If that happens, we no longer have our freedom. I will never let it happen! They tried hard in 2016, and lost. Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!"

(Excerpt) Read more at protocol.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: badidea; censorbusting
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There's a link to the purported EO at the bottom of the source article.

A quick read indicates POTUS will not attempt anything illegal or unconstitutional.

But there are certainly multiple point of leverage over tech. Which is about the most anyone can hope for.

Because there is no way a Democrat House will allow substantive change to the law.

This will be a big, and bloody political fight.

1 posted on 05/28/2020 9:29:20 AM PDT by Mariner
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To: Mariner

Stakeholders may be selling off now to beat the loss.


2 posted on 05/28/2020 9:32:32 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: Mariner

The President is on solid ground with this Executive Order, as Pro-American Conservative voices must be protected and promoted by the government, and social media & websites must be guided to protect conservatism.


3 posted on 05/28/2020 9:36:00 AM PDT by Meatspace
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To: Meatspace

Easiest way is to invalidate and remove all the Indian and Communist Chinese foriegn scabs that make up most of the socialist media workforce.


4 posted on 05/28/2020 9:38:29 AM PDT by Starcitizen (Communist China needs to be treated like the pariah country it is. Send it back to 1971)
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To: Mariner

Sound and Fury.

All these are unenforceable — except allowing the FTC to hear complaints about bias.

So, it sets up a complaint line.


5 posted on 05/28/2020 9:47:43 AM PDT by CharleysPride (Bring Luke Denman and Airan Berry home!)
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To: Mariner
Researchers have been unable to unearth any significant evidence that the social media platforms routinely censor conservative voices.

Look at this line from within the article.

Researchers...unable...evidence.

WTF? This is all you need to know about this article of lies.

6 posted on 05/28/2020 9:54:50 AM PDT by USS Alaska (NUKE THE MOOSELIMB, TERRORISTS, NOW!)
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To: CharleysPride

The section 230 stuff is not enforceable but calling it out may trigger a wave of litigation against Twitter as it provides the legal rational to breach 230(c)(2) protection.

As you note, the FTC action is the real meat.


7 posted on 05/28/2020 9:57:22 AM PDT by thoughtomator (here comes the switch to Hillary)
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To: Meatspace

“....social media & websites must be guided to protect conservatism.”

I’m not sure if a thought process like this is productive. This will be quite a battle in the SCOTUS. On one hand you have the “ability” to use the media for a tool for all types of propaganda far beyond just political point of view, which is going to hard as he(( to prove no matter how obvious it is. And until it gets down to who has the opinion of which widget is better, and the wording of the presentation can not be considered spin, the first amendment protects everyone.

On the other hand, imagine censuring MSNBC, but not comments made by Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. The court ain’t gonna buy that one. And that’s the slippery slope this is headed down....goose/gander. And in my humble opinion, if it doesn’t float it will open up the media to even further acts of attack for the left as they now have precedence to pimp out more than ever, and a greater opportunity using the courts with a Constitutional determination making it even more opportunistic.

Besides, if they get caught in a lie, don’t they just retract on page 103? Ut, oh, my bad, and the next paper is already on the news stand in front of the retraction. Revolving door.

rwood


8 posted on 05/28/2020 10:02:51 AM PDT by Redwood71
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To: Mariner

Side Bar: Trump traps his enemies in their owned brewed stew. One, Trump led Twitter right off the steep cliff....Zuckerberg (Facebook) jumped on it right away, and he, Trump, also has led the gleeful Democrat Governors that think they are keeping the USA economy and jobs numbers down into a box they will never come out of.. Trump is about to launch a massive devastating political attack on the likes of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Illinois, Michigan, California, Washington, etc., Democrat governors who are more like traitors then patriot, loyal Americans. Of course, Pelosi thinks her Democrat Governors are cute by keeping American small business in check to hurt them, their employees and the USA economy. Bad move!!! Trump will kill them politically on this one!!!


9 posted on 05/28/2020 10:02:59 AM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX (Defeat both the Republican (e) & Democrat (e) political parties....Forever!!!)
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To: Mariner

For starters,
NO executive branch agency should have a Facebook page or a twitter account. No DOD, no CIA, no DOJ, USFS, HHS, National Parks, HUD, Navy, Army, NASA, CDC, etc.

And no executive branch agency should spend a dime on IT services from a tech company that censors political speech. We basically do this with universities and law enforcement agencies across the nation already.

Declare an emergency for their collusion with Communist China. Declare them a spying and security threat. Take them over like Truman did the steel mills.

Cut off every last one of their H1Bs

And put out an order that NO executive branch computer or phone may be used to access a facebook or twitter account.

It’s war...do it!


10 posted on 05/28/2020 10:06:31 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: All

TWITTER’S BLATANT HYPOCRISY —— Schiff has repeatedly “spread falsehoods shamelessly” for three years......on broadcast TV some 237 times.

He keeps repeating false claims “he has evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

A recent WSJ editorial urged people not to trust Schiff anymore.

Schiff is like a mangy, flea-bitten dog obsessively sniffing through garbage, then finally finding a “half-eaten bone”......... and wont let it go.


11 posted on 05/28/2020 10:09:25 AM PDT by Liz ( Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: thoughtomator

“As you note, the FTC action is the real meat.”

These companies are now urgently reviewing the language of the TOS. And in fact may ALTER them considerably.

And then require every user to re log on and accept to continue.

The best commie lawyers in the world are all now on billion dollar retainers. Every judge and politician with a secret has been put on notice.

It will be an epic battle.


12 posted on 05/28/2020 10:09:33 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: All

Some liken Trump’s concerns as if it were govt interference in private businesses. Pres Trump, as the Executive, is responsible for enforcing the law. He is also given latitude to not enforce the law, at his discretion. So he would possibly be able to decide to no longer enforce the law for Twitter or Facebook.


Twitter CEO Dorsey is starting to sound paranoid. Maybe he’s heard from the SEC?
NOTE These social media platforms are not private businesses——these are publicly-held companies subject to SEC laws.

They raise money from the public and are traded on the stock exchange,

They “say” they are common carriers-—like planes, trains, cabs, buses........


Twitter is not a common carrier-——it is a publicly-held company subject to the laws of the SEC.

TWITTERS 2013 PROSPECTUS filed with the SEC
LINK-—https://wwwsec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000119312513390321/d564001ds1.htm

To report your concerns about Twitter censoring Trump:

email .... enforcement@SEC.gov


13 posted on 05/28/2020 10:10:44 AM PDT by Liz ( Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: Mariner

Good posting. This Emily Stay Tuned!!! Birnbaum , like the rest of us, will see the folly of an EO attacking these platforms.


14 posted on 05/28/2020 10:12:39 AM PDT by urtax$@work (The only kind of memorial is a Burning memorial !)
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To: Mariner

Well this should be fun.


15 posted on 05/28/2020 10:12:43 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: DesertRhino

“For starters,
NO executive branch agency should have a Facebook page or a twitter account. No DOD, no CIA, no DOJ, USFS, HHS, National Parks, HUD, Navy, Army, NASA, CDC, etc.”

What about Trump?
Should he have a Twitter account?


16 posted on 05/28/2020 10:17:09 AM PDT by FewsOrange
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To: Mariner
My post about Facebook from October 17, 2018:


Hold Facebook accountable to what it said it would do when it took people's money.

From Facebook's IPO Prospectus dated May 3, 2012 (emphasis mine):


Our mission is to make the world more open and connected.

People use Facebook to stay connected with their friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world around them, and to share and express what matters to them to the people they care about.

Developers can use the Facebook Platform to build applications (apps) and websites that integrate with Facebook to reach our global network of users and to build products that are more personalized, social, and engaging.

Advertisers can engage with more than 900 million monthly active users (MAUs) on Facebook or subsets of our users based on information they have chosen to share with us such as their age, location, gender, or interests. We offer advertisers a unique combination of reach, relevance, social context, and engagement to enhance the value of their ads.

We believe that we are at the forefront of enabling faster, easier, and richer communication between people and that Facebook has become an integral part of many of our users’ daily lives. We have experienced rapid growth in the number of users and their engagement.

[snip -- the following emphasis is Facebook's from the prospectus]

How We Create Value for Users

Our top priority is to build useful and engaging products that enable you to:

  • Connect with Your Friends. With more than 900 million MAUs worldwide, our users are increasingly able to find and stay connected with their friends, family, and colleagues on Facebook.
  • Discover and Learn. We believe that users come to Facebook to discover and learn more about what is going on in the world around them, particularly in the lives of their friends and family and with public figures and organizations that interest them.
  • Express Yourself. We enable our users to share and publish their opinions, ideas, photos, and activities to audiences ranging from their closest friends to our 900 million users, giving every user a voice within the Facebook community.
  • Control What You Share. Through Facebook’s privacy and sharing settings, our users can control what they share and with whom they share it.
  • Experience Facebook Across the Web. Through apps and websites built by developers using the Facebook Platform, our users can interact with their Facebook friends while playing games, listening to music, watching movies, reading news, and engaging in other activities.
  • Stay Connected with Your Friends on Mobile Devices. Through the combination of our mobile sites, smartphone apps, and feature phone products, users can bring Facebook with them on mobile devices wherever they go.

Foundations of the Social Web

We believe that the web, including the mobile web, is evolving to become more social and personalized. This evolution is creating more rewarding experiences that are centered on people, their connections, and their interests. We believe that the following elements form the foundation of the social web:

  • Authentic Identity. We believe that using your real name, connecting to your real friends, and sharing your genuine interests online create more engaging and meaningful experiences. Representing yourself with your authentic identity online encourages you to behave with the same norms that foster trust and respect in your daily life offline. Authentic identity is core to the Facebook experience, and we believe that it is central to the future of the web. Our terms of service require you to use your real name and we encourage you to be your true self online, enabling us and Platform developers to provide you with more personalized experiences.
  • Social Graph. The Social Graph represents the connections between people and their friends and interests. Every person or entity is represented by a point within the graph, and the affiliations between people and their friends and interests form billions of connections between the points. Our mapping of the Social Graph enables Facebook and Platform developers to build more engaging user experiences that are based on these connections.
  • Social Distribution. Over time, people are consuming and creating more kinds of information at a faster pace across a broader range of devices. The growing volume of information makes it challenging to find meaningful and trusted content and to effectively make your voice heard. Facebook organizes and prioritizes content and serves as a powerful social distribution tool delivering to users what we believe they will find most compelling based on their friends and interests.

That is what Zuckerberg sold to investors when he went public with Facebook. Is that what is happening now? Doesn't the prospectus describe a public forum where all viewpoints are equally tolerated?

The prospectus said:

Express Yourself. We enable our users to share and publish their opinions, ideas, photos, and activities to audiences ranging from their closest friends to our 900 million users, giving every user a voice within the Facebook community.

Is Facebook making good on its promise to "enable our users to share and publish their opinions" and "give every user a voice within the Facebook community?"

Set aside, for the moment, the banning of conservatives from the platform. What about the advertisers who are losing access to that audience?

The prospectus said:

Advertisers can engage with more than 900 million monthly active users (MAUs) on Facebook or subsets of our users based on information they have chosen to share with us such as their age, location, gender, or interests. We offer advertisers a unique combination of reach, relevance, social context, and engagement to enhance the value of their ads.

Facebook is now denying access to large segments of banned users that advertisers expected to be there when they invested in building their storefronts on Facebook.

Finally, the prospectus said:

We believe that we are at the forefront of enabling faster, easier, and richer communication between people and that Facebook has become an integral part of many of our users’ daily lives.

By their own admission, their users have made Facebook "an integral part... of users' daily lives." Now Facebook wants to rip that away from people after people invested so much time and energy into it?

These should be the main arguments against Facebook.


-PJ

17 posted on 05/28/2020 10:19:55 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (Freedom of the press is the People's right to publish, not CNN's right to the 1st question.)
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To: JLAGRAYFOX

Democrats are playing Chutes and Ladders while Trump is playing 4-D chess.


18 posted on 05/28/2020 10:25:20 AM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (This space vacant until further notice in compliance with social distancing 'guidelines')
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To: Political Junkie Too

“Is that what is happening now? Doesn’t the prospectus describe a public forum where all viewpoints are equally tolerated?”

Yes, there will be shareholder lawsuits and they will have merit. Especially with the SEC reasoning, opinion and support.


19 posted on 05/28/2020 10:26:22 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

You are right on the money....BRAVO...& “My hat is off to you”!!!


20 posted on 05/28/2020 10:35:06 AM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX (Defeat both the Republican (e) & Democrat (e) political parties....Forever!!!)
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