Donald Trump whining about Twitter looks like this
On Thursday, just two days after being fact-checked on Twitter, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order which attempts to regulate free speech on social networks. Specifically, Trump’s Order tries to “clarify” a federal law passed by Congress in 1996, the Communications Decency Act, by taking away free speech protections that the law granted over online platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and other social media. Trump’s Executive Order further provides:
The (Attorney General’s) working group will also monitor or create watch-lists of users based on their interactions with content or other users.
Essentially, Trump, with the assistance of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, wants to compile a Nixon-style “enemies list” of people who write unflattering things about Trump or other Republicans, and then punish them. This idea, which we call the Social Media Enemies Lengthy List (“SMELL”), as part of Trump’s attempt to trample on the legislative power of Congress, doesn’t pass the smell test, either legally, constitutionally or otherwise. In fact, it is a weak, laughable move that will likely blow back in Trump’s face.
Harvard University Constitutional Law Professor Laurence Tribe laid out the illegalities of Trump’s Order, ironically, in a series of tweets:
If Trump’s May 28 executive order were to end up restricting the ability of private social media platforms like Twitter to tag tweets like his as misleading, it would violate not just the Communications Decency Act (CDA) but the First Amendment. See this thread for my analysis:
— Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) May 28, 2020
Even the Republican U.S. Chamber of Commerce, made up of large companies that love getting their taxes lowered and their regulations removed by Republicans, criticized Trump’s Executive Order as prohibited and futile:
“Regardless of the circumstances that led up to this, this is not how public policy is made in the United States. An executive order cannot be properly used to change federal law,” an official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. https://t.co/EKw4R24KO8
— Renée K. Gadoua (@ReneeKGadoua) May 28, 2020
Twitter, moreover, seems determined to apply its policies over its social network even in the face of Trump’s threats. Indeed, very early this morning, after Trump sent out a tweet calling for the shooting of looters in Minneapolis following the police murder of George Floyd, Twitter slapped Trump’s tweet with a warning label for “glorifying violence.”
The other area where Trump’s Order fails is politically. Lashing out at social media after being fact-checked for yet more lies makes Trump look weak and whiny, the opposite of the kind of image that Trump would like to project. Moreover, the right to free speech on the internet (subject, of course, to several restrictions such as a prohibition on inciting violence) is one of the few things that unites folks across the political spectrum. Indeed, many right wing groups have flourished through online organizing and fundraising, and it’s highly doubtful that they would want the next Democratic president to be able to use Trump’s Order against them. In short, this move by Trump looks like a loser for him, and we predict that it will go nowhere at any rate.
Photo by Donnie Ray Jones, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/ovvs9u
