Trump threatens to shut social media companies after Twitter fact check warning

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an event in the Rose Garden. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an event in the Rose Garden. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP

Published May 27, 2020

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Washington - US President Donald Trump

on Wednesday threatened to regulate or shut down social media

companies for stifling conservative voices, a day after Twitter

attached a warning to some of his tweets prompting readers to

fact check the president's claims.

Without offering evidence, Trump again accused such

platforms of bias, tweeting: "Republicans feel that Social Media

Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly

regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to

happen."

The president, a heavy user of Twitter with more than 80

million followers, added: "Clean up your act, NOW!!!!"

Trump's threat to shut down platforms like Twitter Inc

and Facebook was his strongest yet within a

broader conservative backlash against Big Tech.

Shares of both companies fell.

Twitter for the first time added fact-check labels on Trump

tweets after he made unsubstantiated claims on Tuesday about

mail-in voting. It attached a blue exclamation mark alert to his

tweets to warn his claims were false and had been debunked by

factcheckers.

In a pair of early morning posts on Wednesday, the

Republican president again blasted mail-in ballots. In a third

tweet he threatened "big action" against Twitter.

A Twitter spokeswoman declined comment on Trump's tweets.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In recent years Twitter has been tightening its policies

amid criticism that its hands-off approach had allowed abuse,

fake accounts and misinformation to thrive.

Tech companies have been accused of anti-competitive

practices and violating user privacy. Apple, Google, Facebook

and Amazon are facing antitrust probes by the US Justice

Department, the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys

general and a U.S. congressional panel.

AUTHORITY OR NOT?

It was not immediately clear whether Trump has the authority

to shut down the companies.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers, along with the Justice

Department, have been considering proposed changes to Section

230 of the Communications Decency Act, a federal law that

largely exempts online platforms from legal liability for the

material their users post.

Such changes could expose tech companies to more lawsuits or

significantly increase their costs.

The White House is considering establishing a panel to

review complaints of anti-conservative bias on social media,

according to recent news reports.

Twitter's dramatic shift on Tuesday prompted Trump to accuse

it of interfering in November's presidential election, while its

rival Facebook left Trump's post on mail-in ballots untouched on

its platform on Tuesday. 

Reuters

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