Business & Finance Trump Signs Executive Order that Reduces Liability Protections of Companies that Censure Content (ie Social Media)

Husky_Khan

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
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thehill.com

Trump signs order targeting social media firms’ legal protections

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at increasing the ability of the government to regulate social media platforms, a marked escalation of his lengthy feud with Silicon Valley …
thehill.com thehill.com

So I'm guessing this is part of the Platform versus Publisher saga and while I know just yesterday I made a post about Censorship in Big Tech but this particular case seems like it is worth a thread of its own.

I'm no Lawyer or even a Legal Eagle on the Internet but apparently it still needs to be approved by the FCC... and then a bunch of people will file lawsuits... and then maybe something will change? I dunno...

Also while this targets BIG TECH companies or seems to, it does make me wonder if there will be any ramifications for... smaller operations. Such as.... forums and the like. :unsure: 🧐
 
Husky_Khan said:
thehill.com

Trump signs order targeting social media firms’ legal protections

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at increasing the ability of the government to regulate social media platforms, a marked escalation of his lengthy feud with Silicon Valley …
thehill.com thehill.com

So I'm guessing this is part of the Platform versus Publisher saga and while I know just yesterday I made a post about Censorship in Big Tech but this particular case seems like it is worth a thread of its own.

I'm no Lawyer or even a Legal Eagle on the Internet but apparently it still needs to be approved by the FCC... and then a bunch of people will file lawsuits... and then maybe something will change? I dunno...

Also while this targets BIG TECH companies or seems to, it does make me wonder if there will be any ramifications for... smaller operations. Such as.... forums and the like. :unsure: 🧐
Click to expand...

I read the draft of the Executive Order, and it's exactly the Platform/Publisher divide from section 230. If this is carried all the way through, it will force social media companies to either shut the censorship down, or become fully liable as publishers, which could wreck them.

The way that both the EO and 230 are written, it could actually play down to the level of forums. Having read section 230 myself, the worst it'll do is require admin staff not to censor any sort of speech that isn't advocating violence. As in, if someone tries to bring a lawsuit against a forum, unless there's shenanigans about stuff in private messages being peeked at and then spread around by staff, the worst that could happen to the forum, is being forced to stop with the censorship, maybe fines if it continues?
 
LordsFire said:
The way that both the EO and 230 are written, it could actually play down to the level of forums. Having read section 230 myself, the worst it'll do is require admin staff not to censor any sort of speech that isn't advocating violence. As in, if someone tries to bring a lawsuit against a forum, unless there's shenanigans about stuff in private messages being peeked at and then spread around by staff, the worst that could happen to the forum, is being forced to stop with the censorship, maybe fines if it continues?
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Actually, the current status quo, to my knowledge, is that most forums don't have platform protections, which is why pretty much all of them have things "illegal in the United States" be banned content. Because most of them are liable, because they fall under publishing, because they have moderation of legal behavior like the posting of pornography.

It's why SB got shitcanned for a bit over the Toucan pic.
 
Tzeentchean Perspective said:
Twitter just censored one of his tweets as a fuck-you, but here's a unique take on the implications of that move:

Click to expand...

And Styxenhammer is wrong. Very wrong here. If the government was doing that, then sure, but this is a private company doing that. This whole executive order seems like a load of nothing. The Volokh Conspiracy (a lawyer blog which has arguments that are influential and influence briefs before the Supreme Court, in addition to having members of the Supreme Court Bar) has been talking about it recently.
 
Technically it is like the news, they cant censor but they can change..except Twitter did Censor.
Ifg they tryduring the election that is election tampering,

KF is in for big trouble is this repeals 230
 
Zachowon said:
KF is in for big trouble is this repeals 230
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We are all in big trouble if they repeal 230. Really, what we have is imperfect, but a hell of a lot better than the BS the europeans have. What's standing in the way of european bullshit? 230.
 
Bacle said:
I think a rewrite or modification of 230 to clarify it and add clauses to prevent abuse is more likely than scrapping it, simply because a lot of people do not want to go the way of Europe.
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Most of the hate on 230 is an excuse to get rid of it and begin regulating the internet. Trust me, editing it will just give tons of special interests what they want. No good can come of this.
 
Abhorsen said:
We are all in big trouble if they repeal 230. Really, what we have is imperfect, but a hell of a lot better than the BS the europeans have. What's standing in the way of european bullshit? 230.
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WE at least have rules in place on this forum tha shoyuld allow us o follow the law without getting shut down or legal action taken. unlike KF
 
Abhorsen said:
Most of the hate on 230 is an excuse to get rid of it and begin regulating the internet. Trust me, editing it will just give tons of special interests what they want. No good can come of this.
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Well, leaving as is was not going to work, not when people kept trying to abuse the publisher/platform separation to game the system.

Particularly when they do so with political agendas and biased intentions, while maintaining an effective monopolies on the social sphere's communications.
 
Zachowon said:
WE at least have rules in place on this forum tha shoyuld allow us o follow the law without getting shut down or legal action taken. unlike KF
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Nope. Because getting rid of 230 means that Zoe can get sued for anything anybody posts here.
Bacle said:
Well, leaving as is was not going to work, not when people kept trying to abuse the publisher/platform separation to game the system.

Particularly when they do so with political agendas and biased intentions, while maintaining an effective monopolies on the social sphere's communications.
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The publisher/platform thing isn't a real legal thing. Basically, if you have a platform, you can choose what goes on it. The solution might be turning some social media into utilities.
 
Abhorsen said:
The solution might be turning some social media into utilities.
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That may be the best way forward, come to think of it.

Or at least treat the US net as a utility, and literally cut off offenders from the net completely till they comply.
 
Zachowon said:
I..know...
But she can inpliment rules enforcing that here..
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It might not matter what rules Zoe enforces. She would have to go to court to prove that the stuff was against Ts&Cs, and be out a lot of money doing so.
Bacle said:
That may be the best way forward, come to think of it.

Or at least treat the US net as a utility, and literally cut off offenders from the net completely till they comply.
Click to expand...
Also not a good idea. If you treat US stuff as a utility, then that means no moderation anywhere, even forums. So offtopic posts everywhere, as just a small example.
 
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