Trump implicates Scarborough in murder.

[Mountain Man]

You don't seem to understand that there is a special law protecting social media from any lawsuit. None of the other media has this special protection. Should the New York Times publish an article from Mr. X defaming you, you can launch a lawsuit against Mr. X and the New York Times. If Mr. X does on Twitter, you can't. See the problem.

The "special law" protects them from being sued for content submitted by the public. It does NOT protect them from their own acts of censorship or flagging content with a phony "fact check".

[rogue06]

I would love to see stringent regulations as no one should have the power to defame with impunity.

So you must be plenty pissed off at the MSM since they regularly carry out horrible attacks which smear people in the nastiest ways imaginable and then become overfilled with self-righteous indignation the moment when it gets turned around on them since they feel that they're beyond reproach.

And btw, Trump didn't defame Scarborough. He never claimed that Scarborough was responsible for the intern's death but rather merely said the equivalent of did you hear about this? Something social media was abuzz about when it happened. And if Scarborough was so upset about the tweet and didn't want it brought up then why in the world did he go on the Howard Stern show to talk about it as well as make jokes about it?

[rogue06]

There is nobody like Trump in the Dems camp...

Nancy Pelosi

Adam Schiff

Maxine Waters

Chuck Schumer

Ilhan Omar

Hillary Clinton...



You know what? You're right. There is nobody like Trump in the Dem's camp. Who they've got is much, much worse.

[Cow Poke]

The "special law" protects them from being sued for content submitted by the public. It does NOT protect them from their own acts of censorship or flagging content with a phony "fact check".

That's what I thought, but he seemed to paint it in other terms.

[little_monkey]

It IS a great country, and I'm blessed to live here. But, if you're just looking for a fight, I'll bow out.

It is a great country, and I didn't mean any mockery - just expressing my frustrations with so much ignorance of people going on websites, and spreading their ignorance as if that ignorance is some kind of virtue. Yes that law, passed in 1996 by both parties, is a disgrace as both parties bear responsibility. And Trump is complicit as he never had any intentions to abolish it as he is a great beneficiary of that law. His latest bout to punish Twitter is only smoke and mirror as: 1) it's a law passed by Congress and only Congress can abolish or amend it; 2) it's a scare tactics hoping that Twitter will blink first and leave his tweets untouched... will see in the near future how this will pan out...

[DivineOb]

Wow, so Mr. X goes on Twitter, defames in in every horrible way, and you can't sue him because a special law protects Twitter, and you're okay with that special law!? I hope it never happens to you, but you are now aware of what's going on in the US of A. Great country, isn't it...

I think a great many posters on here are absolutely thrilled that it is hard to sue for libel when one is defamed on an online platform. Just ask "Sparko"

[little_monkey]

The "special law" protects them from being sued for content submitted by the public.

You're missing the point: If a Mr. X defames you on the New York times, you can sue both Mr. X and the NY times. If Mr X defames you on Twitter, you are helpless.

[little_monkey]

I think a great many posters on here are absolutely thrilled that it is hard to sue for libel when one is defamed on an online platform. Just ask "Sparko"

It explains all the nonsense, isn't it...

[Sparko]

Apparently, Trump is said to put on an executive order that would essentially remove some of the protections granted to social media companies by a law known as Section 230, which currently stipulates that tech companies not be held liable for content posted by users. Hmm, I agree with that in the sense that all social media platforms should be on the same footing as any other media, and should face lawsuits when users are victims of false allegations. However, Trump is shooting himself in the foot as Twitter is his biggest platform. All of his tweets would then be double- or triple-checked. Go figure.

Basically section 230 was written to prevent platforms from being iable for what the users publish, while still allowing them to moderate and edit the content for things such as profanity, sexual abuse, harassment, etc.

47 US Code section230
(c) Protection for “Good Samaritan” blocking and screening of offensive material
(1) Treatment of publisher or speaker
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

(2) Civil liability No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of—
(A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or
(B) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (1).[1]

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230

What Trump wants to do is revise it so that if a platform decides to interfere with content in such a way as to editorialize it with "fact-checking" then they become publishers and lose the protection of section 230, across the board. It also covers deleting content that provides a political view the platform disagrees with (That could be a problem, as it would prevent them from not only deleting Trump's posts, but posts from Terrorists)

If they don't editorialize content, then they retain the full protection from lawsuits based on user content.

So the result will be if sites like Twitter decide to interfere with posts with fact checking like stuff, then their entire platform is open to law suits based an any user content. If they don't editorialize content, or just moderate things like listed in (2)(A) above then they will retain the protection from lawsuit.

I was reading the Executive order closely this morning because I was worried it could impact Theologyweb. But since we don't edit posts to "fact-check" or delete posts with contrary points of view from ours, we are still protected.

Here is the Executive Order:

Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship

Infrastructure & Technology

Issued on: May 28, 2020


By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. Free speech is the bedrock of American democracy. Our Founding Fathers protected this sacred right with the First Amendment to the Constitution. The freedom to express and debate ideas is the foundation for all of our rights as a free people.

In a country that has long cherished the freedom of expression, we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand pick the speech that Americans may access and convey on the internet. This practice is fundamentally un-American and anti-democratic. When large, powerful social media companies censor opinions with which they disagree, they exercise a dangerous power. They cease functioning as passive bulletin boards, and ought to be viewed and treated as content creators.

The growth of online platforms in recent years raises important questions about applying the ideals of the First Amendment to modern communications technology. Today, many Americans follow the news, stay in touch with friends and family, and share their views on current events through social media and other online platforms. As a result, these platforms function in many ways as a 21st century equivalent of the public square.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense, if not unprecedented, power to shape the interpretation of public events; to censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or do not see.

As President, I have made clear my commitment to free and open debate on the internet. Such debate is just as important online as it is in our universities, our town halls, and our homes. It is essential to sustaining our democracy.

Online platforms are engaging in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse. Tens of thousands of Americans have reported, among other troubling behaviors, online platforms “flagging” content as inappropriate, even though it does not violate any stated terms of service; making unannounced and unexplained changes to company policies that have the effect of disfavoring certain viewpoints; and deleting content and entire accounts with no warning, no rationale, and no recourse.

Twitter now selectively decides to place a warning label on certain tweets in a manner that clearly reflects political bias. As has been reported, Twitter seems never to have placed such a label on another politician’s tweet. As recently as last week, Representative Adam Schiff was continuing to mislead his followers by peddling the long-disproved Russian Collusion Hoax, and Twitter did not flag those tweets. Unsurprisingly, its officer in charge of so-called ‘Site Integrity’ has flaunted his political bias in his own tweets.

At the same time online platforms are invoking inconsistent, irrational, and groundless justifications to censor or otherwise restrict Americans’ speech here at home, several online platforms are profiting from and promoting the aggression and disinformation spread by foreign governments like China. One United States company, for example, created a search engine for the Chinese Communist Party that would have blacklisted searches for “human rights,” hid data unfavorable to the Chinese Communist Party, and tracked users determined appropriate for surveillance. It also established research partnerships in China that provide direct benefits to the Chinese military. Other companies have accepted advertisements paid for by the Chinese government that spread false information about China’s mass imprisonment of religious minorities, thereby enabling these abuses of human rights. They have also amplified China’s propaganda abroad, including by allowing Chinese government officials to use their platforms to spread misinformation regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to undermine pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

As a Nation, we must foster and protect diverse viewpoints in today’s digital communications environment where all Americans can and should have a voice. We must seek transparency and accountability from online platforms, and encourage standards and tools to protect and preserve the integrity and openness of American discourse and freedom of expression.

Sec. 2. Protections Against Online Censorship. (a) It is the policy of the United States to foster clear ground rules promoting free and open debate on the internet. Prominent among the ground rules governing that debate is the immunity from liability created by section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act (section 230(c)). 47 U.S.C. 230(c). It is the policy of the United States that the scope of that immunity should be clarified: the immunity should not extend beyond its text and purpose to provide protection for those who purport to provide users a forum for free and open speech, but in reality use their power over a vital means of communication to engage in deceptive or pretextual actions stifling free and open debate by censoring certain viewpoints.

Section 230(c) was designed to address early court decisions holding that, if an online platform restricted access to some content posted by others, it would thereby become a “publisher” of all the content posted on its site for purposes of torts such as defamation. As the title of section 230(c) makes clear, the provision provides limited liability “protection” to a provider of an interactive computer service (such as an online platform) that engages in “‘Good Samaritan’ blocking” of harmful content. In particular, the Congress sought to provide protections for online platforms that attempted to protect minors from harmful content and intended to ensure that such providers would not be discouraged from taking down harmful material. The provision was also intended to further the express vision of the Congress that the internet is a “forum for a true diversity of political discourse.” 47 U.S.C. 230(a)(3). The limited protections provided by the statute should be construed with these purposes in mind.

In particular, subparagraph (c)(2) expressly addresses protections from “civil liability” and specifies that an interactive computer service provider may not be made liable “on account of” its decision in “good faith” to restrict access to content that it considers to be “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable.” It is the policy of the United States to ensure that, to the maximum extent permissible under the law, this provision is not distorted to provide liability protection for online platforms that — far from acting in “good faith” to remove objectionable content — instead engage in deceptive or pretextual actions (often contrary to their stated terms of service) to stifle viewpoints with which they disagree. Section 230 was not intended to allow a handful of companies to grow into titans controlling vital avenues for our national discourse under the guise of promoting open forums for debate, and then to provide those behemoths blanket immunity when they use their power to censor content and silence viewpoints that they dislike. When an interactive computer service provider removes or restricts access to content and its actions do not meet the criteria of subparagraph (c)(2)(A), it is engaged in editorial conduct. It is the policy of the United States that such a provider should properly lose the limited liability shield of subparagraph (c)(2)(A) and be exposed to liability like any traditional editor and publisher that is not an online provider.

(b) To advance the policy described in subsection (a) of this section, all executive departments and agencies should ensure that their application of section 230(c) properly reflects the narrow purpose of the section and take all appropriate actions in this regard. In addition, within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), in consultation with the Attorney General, and acting through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), shall file a petition for rulemaking with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting that the FCC expeditiously propose regulations to clarify:

(i) the interaction between subparagraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) of section 230, in particular to clarify and determine the circumstances under which a provider of an interactive computer service that restricts access to content in a manner not specifically protected by subparagraph (c)(2)(A) may also not be able to claim protection under subparagraph (c)(1), which merely states that a provider shall not be treated as a publisher or speaker for making third-party content available and does not address the provider’s responsibility for its own editorial decisions;

(ii) the conditions under which an action restricting access to or availability of material is not “taken in good faith” within the meaning of subparagraph (c)(2)(A) of section 230, particularly whether actions can be “taken in good faith” if they are:

(A) deceptive, pretextual, or inconsistent with a provider’s terms of service; or

(B) taken after failing to provide adequate notice, reasoned explanation, or a meaningful opportunity to be heard; and

(iii) any other proposed regulations that the NTIA concludes may be appropriate to advance the policy described in subsection (a) of this section.

Sec. 3. Protecting Federal Taxpayer Dollars from Financing Online Platforms That Restrict Free Speech. (a) The head of each executive department and agency (agency) shall review its agency’s Federal spending on advertising and marketing paid to online platforms. Such review shall include the amount of money spent, the online platforms that receive Federal dollars, and the statutory authorities available to restrict their receipt of advertising dollars.

(b) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency shall report its findings to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

(c) The Department of Justice shall review the viewpoint-based speech restrictions imposed by each online platform identified in the report described in subsection (b) of this section and assess whether any online platforms are problematic vehicles for government speech due to viewpoint discrimination, deception to consumers, or other bad practices.

Sec. 4. Federal Review of Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices. (a) It is the policy of the United States that large online platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, as the critical means of promoting the free flow of speech and ideas today, should not restrict protected speech. The Supreme Court has noted that social media sites, as the modern public square, “can provide perhaps the most powerful mechanisms available to a private citizen to make his or her voice heard.” Packingham v. North Carolina, 137 S. Ct. 1730, 1737 (2017). Communication through these channels has become important for meaningful participation in American democracy, including to petition elected leaders. These sites are providing an important forum to the public for others to engage in free expression and debate. Cf. PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins, 447 U.S. 74, 85-89 (1980).

(b) In May of 2019, the White House launched a Tech Bias Reporting tool to allow Americans to report incidents of online censorship. In just weeks, the White House received over 16,000 complaints of online platforms censoring or otherwise taking action against users based on their political viewpoints. The White House will submit such complaints received to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

(c) The FTC shall consider taking action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, pursuant to section 45 of title 15, United States Code. Such unfair or deceptive acts or practice may include practices by entities covered by section 230 that restrict speech in ways that do not align with those entities’ public representations about those practices.

(d) For large online platforms that are vast arenas for public debate, including the social media platform Twitter, the FTC shall also, consistent with its legal authority, consider whether complaints allege violations of law that implicate the policies set forth in section 4(a) of this order. The FTC shall consider developing a report describing such complaints and making the report publicly available, consistent with applicable law.

Sec. 5. State Review of Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices and Anti-Discrimination Laws. (a) The Attorney General shall establish a working group regarding the potential enforcement of State statutes that prohibit online platforms from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The working group shall also develop model legislation for consideration by legislatures in States where existing statutes do not protect Americans from such unfair and deceptive acts and practices. The working group shall invite State Attorneys General for discussion and consultation, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.

(b) Complaints described in section 4(b) of this order will be shared with the working group, consistent with applicable law. The working group shall also collect publicly available information regarding the following:

(i) increased scrutiny of users based on the other users they choose to follow, or their interactions with other users;

(ii) algorithms to suppress content or users based on indications of political alignment or viewpoint;

(iii) differential policies allowing for otherwise impermissible behavior, when committed by accounts associated with the Chinese Communist Party or other anti-democratic associations or governments;

(iv) reliance on third-party entities, including contractors, media organizations, and individuals, with indicia of bias to review content; and

(v) acts that limit the ability of users with particular viewpoints to earn money on the platform compared with other users similarly situated.

Sec. 6. Legislation. The Attorney General shall develop a proposal for Federal legislation that would be useful to promote the policy objectives of this order.

Sec. 7. Definition. For purposes of this order, the term “online platform” means any website or application that allows users to create and share content or engage in social networking, or any general search engine.

Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/president...ne-censorship/

[Sparko]

It's not a question of having both ways, but if someone is defaming you, don't you want the ability to bring a lawsuit and stop that defamation? That's how it is with the printing press. Why should it be different with social media like Twitter or Facebook??? Their platform IS the printing press and should be in the same category. No special privileges...

Because if platforms could be sued for what someone else posts on their site, they would all have to shut down.

You can sue someone if they libel you on an online platform, no problem. You just can't sue the platform itself. For example, if your best friend starts spreading lies about you on facefook or twitter, you can sue your best friend for defamation, but you can't sue facebook or twitter. They can't be expected to monitor every post made by every person and be responsible for the content. How would they even know if your best friend was telling the truth or spreading lies?

[Sparko]

You don't seem to understand that there is a special law protecting social media from any lawsuit. None of the other media has this special protection. Should the New York Times publish an article from Mr. X defaming you, you can launch a lawsuit against Mr. X and the New York Times. If Mr. X does on Twitter, you can't. See the problem.

It's only against civil lawsuits for other user's content. Other than that, you can sue platforms if you wish.

[Sparko]

Wow, so Mr. X goes on Twitter, defames in in every horrible way, and you can't sue him because a special law protects Twitter, and you're okay with that special law!? I hope it never happens to you, but you are now aware of what's going on in the US of A. Great country, isn't it...

again, you can sue Mr. X for defamation, but you can't sue twitter for what Mr. X said.

[Mountain Man]

You're missing the point: If a Mr. X defames you on the New York times, you can sue both Mr. X and the NY times. If Mr X defames you on Twitter, you are helpless.

I don't think the latter is correct. If someone defames you on a site like Twitter, you can't sue Twitter, but you can sue the person who defamed you. If the defamation is published in the New York Times, then the Times is liable because they made a choice to publish the defamation. Now if Twitter alters content that you posted, either with a phony "fact check" or outright censorship, then they may be in violation of the law.

[Sparko]

I don't think the latter is correct. If someone defames you on a site like Twitter, you can't sue Twitter, but you can sue the person who defamed you. If the defamation is published in the New York Times, then the Times is liable because they made a choice to publish the defamation. Now if Twitter alters content that you posted, either with a phony "fact check" or outright censorship, then they may be in violation of the law.

Yep. The NYT would be the creator and publisher of the content. They paid a reporter to write it. They have editors who approved it.

[Cow Poke]

I don't think the latter is correct. If someone defames you on a site like Twitter, you can't sue Twitter, but you can sue the person who defamed you. If the defamation is published in the New York Times, then the Times is liable because they made a choice to publish the defamation. Now if Twitter alters content that you posted, either with a phony "fact check" or outright censorship, then they may be in violation of the law.

And that's what I was talking about --- a platform that allows posting of content not their own vs a content provider who publishes selected news stories and opinion.