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Author Topic: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms  (Read 2574 times)

ergophobe

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Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« on: May 28, 2020, 06:39:30 PM »
Quote
The Trump administration is preparing an executive order intended to curtail the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for what gets posted on their platforms, two senior administration officials said early Thursday.

“It’s unclear what to make of this because to a certain extent, you can’t just issue an executive order and overturn on a whim 25 years of judicial precedent about how a law is interpreted,” said Kate Klonick, an assistant law professor at St. John’s University who studies online speech and content moderation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/us/politics/trump-executive-order-social-media.html
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littleman

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2020, 06:46:37 PM »
He's about to bite the hand that feeds him.
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ergophobe

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2020, 09:29:06 PM »
I had a similar thought. I honestly don't understand exactly what is being proposed here. On the one hand, they talk about protecting fr## sp##ch (e.g. against the platforms censoring conservatives) and on the other on removing liability protections for content posted on their platforms.

Those seem to point in opposite directions and it reminds me of the stupid wars we had over ISPs and web hosts way back (except the oligopoly position of Facebook et al does change things).

But to your point, if you take away legal protections, wouldn't this open Twitter up to a lawsuit for libel due to, for example, Trump's accusations against Joe Scarborough? And wouldn't a small number of suits like that basically spell the end of Twitter? Twitter has recently admitted that any user other than Trump would be banned if they behaved the same way, but basically, they don't dare to stand up to him.

Most people seem to think the courts will reject this executive order.
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ergophobe

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2020, 09:29:55 PM »
I didn't realize that f r e e   s p e e c h was a prohibited word. How ironic.
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grnidone

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2020, 09:32:11 PM »
Quote from: littleman on May 28, 2020, 06:46:37 PM
He's about to bite the hand that feeds him.

So much this.  The only effective tool he has to make people do what he wants is shame via his twitter feed.  Republicans are terrified of his twitter feed. 

Too bad that the executive order won’t actually do anything. 

The only reason I want to subscribe to his twitter feed is to see Twitter put a “fact check” on his account for all of his tweets. 

I’d cry laughing if they shut down his account for not complying with the terms of service. 
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Brad

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2020, 11:02:40 AM »
Didn't Twitter, in the early days, have a limit as to how many followers you could have?  I think it was like 2000 followers.  If liability rules come into place, impose a limit of only 2000 followers on all heads of state, heads of government, and other bottom feeders.
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littleman

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2020, 07:11:55 PM »
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ergophobe

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2020, 08:29:56 PM »
Quote from: Brad on May 29, 2020, 11:02:40 AM
heads of state, heads of government, and other bottom feeders.

:-) Made me laugh.

But it's true. Even the best heads of state almost never add value in their Twitter feeds
« Last Edit: May 29, 2020, 08:47:13 PM by ergophobe »
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martinibuster

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Re: Trump seeking limit liability protections for social media platforms
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2020, 07:06:04 AM »
This is about more than Twitter.

This is about more than being "fair" to different viewpoints.

This is about the immunity from lawsuits for EVERY blog, forum, and news site that publishes user generated content.

Yes, there are doubts if the FCC can change the immunity. But I think it's important to understand that this has the potential to affect a great many sites and that this isn't just about Twitter. It's way, way bigger than that.

I wrote an article about it because the mainstream media is mistakenly framing this as about Twitter, which it is not.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/executive-order-weaken-cda-230/370809/
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