HTTP Responds to President Trump's Executive Order on Section 230
Today, President Trump signed an Executive Order that directs the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission to regulate speech on social media platforms. In his executive order, President Trump calls for the FCC to expand its mandate and establish new rules that would circumvent the protections of Section 230 and make the agency responsible for determining how and when the law shields social media companies when they remove, moderate, or flag content on their platforms.
The following can be attributed to Alejandro Roark, CEO of Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP):
“Section 230 is what allowed the internet to democratize speech in this country. Without the protections offered to online platforms by section 230 social media companies would be held responsible for any content they allow to be posted, reducing incentives to promote diversity of speech. President Trump's attempt at turning the FCC into his personal speech police is a call for state sanctioned censorship and a direct attack on the first amendment. This executive order is a clear overreach by the Executive Branch and an attempt to bully the FCC to step into new territory where it has no statutory authority and by doing so delegitimizes its credibility as an "independent agency."