“Can someone please explain how any President could have this kind of authority, legitimately?”
“The petition requests that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) clarify that Section 230 does not permit social media companies that alter or editorialize users’ speech to escape civil liability.”
How Section 230 is interpreted by the Executive Branch, unless spelled out by Congress first, is under the President’s authority. But if the law already provides the direction in the text, then the President (and FCC) could not change the interpretation.
I think most laws are made deliberately vague to give administrators huge leeway in how they are enforced. And that IS a huge problem with how Congress does its job. But...if Congress did not spell it out, then a federal agency in the Executive Branch would have to do so.
Good answer, Mr. Rogers.