Trump warns social media will be “regulated or closed” after Twitter fact-checks him

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to regulate or close social media platforms a day after Twitter fact-checked two of his tweets.
• Twitter added a link to Trump’s tweets, saying “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that aimed to guide Twitter users to a “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about his pronouncements.
• Some of the president’s allies who accused online tech companies with political partisanship asked whether Facebook and Twitter should continue to enjoy liability protections under federal law.

Social media companies are facing a new threat with proposed regulation or shutdown order by President Donald Trump a day after Twitter fact-checked two of his tweets regarding mail-in ballots.

Trump said on his Wednesday tweet “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.”

Trump, alongside his campaign team, blasted Twitter on Tuesday after the social platform company put a warning phrase to two of his tweets — calling main-in ballots as “fraudulent” and saying that mail boxes “will be robbed,” among many other baseless accusations.

A link saying “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” was attached to Trump’s tweets. The link guides users to a “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about his unsubstantiated claims.

Trump fired back at Twitter, accusing them of political interfering with his reelection bid and noted that as president, he won’t allow it to happen.

Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, said that Twitter’s political bias made them retract all of their political advertisements with the platform months ago. Since November 2019, Twitter had suspended all political advertisements.

Some allies of the president, who accused tech companies with partisanship, asked whether online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter should continue to have the privilege of liability protections as ‘platforms’ under federal law, or be labeled as publishers which could face lawsuits over content.

“Big tech gets a huge handout from the federal government,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley told Fox News. “They get this special immunity, this special immunity from suits and from liability that’s worth billions of dollars to them every year. Why are they getting subsidized by federal taxpayers to censor conservatives, to censor people critical of China.”

Trump did not elaborate on his warning on Wednesday as the movement to expand regulation appears to be far-fetched given the traditional conservative principles in place on deregulation.

Based on the power vested by the constitution, the president does not have the sole authority to regulate or shut down social media companies. It requires action by Congress or the Federal Communications Commission.

Source: AOL.com