{"id":224590,"date":"2020-05-31T09:37:09","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T14:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=224590"},"modified":"2020-05-30T12:02:59","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T17:02:59","slug":"trump-social-media-executive-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/trump-social-media-executive-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media giants censor pro-life content. Would Trump’s executive order help?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directed at social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook, declaring that they have been stifling free speech. Trump said his executive order will mean that any potential censorship by these companies will be met with repercussions.<\/p>\n

“A small handful of social media monopolies controls a vast portion of all public and private communications in the United States,” Trump said<\/a> from the Oval Office before signing the executive order. “They’ve had unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter, virtually any form of communication between private citizens and large public audiences.”<\/p>\n

The executive order would mean any social media company found to have engaged in the censorship of political content would lose their “liability shield<\/a>,” a reference to a 1996 law which allows internet companies to moderate content, without being held responsible for the content they choose to host.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg: Fact check of Live Action was \u2018clearly biased\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump accused the social media platforms of engaging in political activism. “In those moments, Twitter ceases to be a neutral public platform and they become an editor with a viewpoint, and I think we can say that about others also,” Trump said<\/a>. “And it’s inappropriate.”<\/p>\n

Many have already criticized Trump’s executive order on both sides of the political aisle, and it is sure to be quickly challenged. Yet while the wisdom of this particular move may be in question, what is not in doubt at all is that social media giants have censored pro-life content on a consistent basis. Live Action founder and president Lila Rose pointed out<\/a> how constant the censorship of pro-life content has been across social media. “These Big Tech companies are not neutral platforms – they are partisan publishers,” she said<\/a> in a tweet. “And under section 230 protections, they’re currently immune from virtually any accountability for their censorship & manipulation of conversation. Something must change. Now.”<\/p>\n

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.@Facebook<\/a> used abortionists to "fact-check" & cut @LiveAction<\/a> & my page reach
@Pinterest<\/a> has BANNED us for "detrimental effects on public safety"@Twitter<\/a> has BANNED us from running ads unless we wipe our site of ultrasounds@YouTube<\/a> has pulled our undercover footage<\/p>\n

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) May 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n