Twitter targets Republicans, allows China to spread lies: Trump

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SME Times News Bureau | 29 May, 2020
After issuing an executive order on social media, US President Donald Trump on Friday again accused Twitter of engaging in selective censorship, saying that the platform is "doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China."

"Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party," Trump said.

"They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated," he added.

In his executive order on Thursday, Trump said that "online platforms are engaging in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse."

The order seeks to blunt Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act which generally protects internet companies from legal liability for user comments.

"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," said the order.

Trump's offensive came on the back of fact checks by Twitter which took the form of a hyperlink that tagged onto exactly two of Trump's tweets and said "Get the facts about mail-in ballots".

Even after the executive order was issued, Twitter flagged a fresh tweet from Trump about the Minneapolis violence, saying that the tweet violated Twitter policies about glorifying violence.