5月26日，唐纳德·特朗普总统出现在华盛顿特区的一场活动中。在推特对他的两个声称邮寄选票会导致欺诈的帖子进行事实核实后，特朗普指责该社交平台和其他人侵犯了言论自由，并威胁要“关闭它们”
唐纳德·特朗普总统不在乎他针对社交媒体平台的新行政命令是否会引发诉讼。
“我想它会在法庭上受到挑战，但什么不会？”特朗普周四在椭圆形办公室签署命令前不久告诉记者。“我们受够了。”
但技术专家预测，这一订单可能会对社交媒体的未来产生寒蝉效应——不仅是在美国，而是在全球。
“全世界都在看着。关注民主、政治自由和人权的非营利智库“自由之家”的研究员阿德里安·沙赫巴兹说新闻周刊。“我们需要确保我们正在利用我们民主的所有组成部分，以确保我们制定的任何政策都经过适当的审议和审查过程，并接触到受影响的利益攸关方。”
此前几天，推特将特朗普的两个关于邮寄投票的推文链接到一个事实检查页面，指出从历史上看，邮寄投票与广泛的选民欺诈证据没有关联。
这是推特第一次使用新的标签系统，也是第一次针对总统，他经常发推特。
特朗普的命令将取消社交媒体平台的一个至关重要的责任屏障，如果他们谴责或编辑内容的话。《通信体面法》第230条保护此类平台免于承担责任，因为它们被视为分享想法的论坛，而不是负责内容的传统出版商。
该命令还将禁止联邦政府花钱在违反“言论自由原则”的平台上做广告。
“这是编辑的决定——在那些时刻，推特不再是一个中立的公共平台，”特朗普告诉记者。“他们成为有观点的编辑。我想我们也可以这样说其他人，无论你是在看谷歌，无论你是在看脸书，或许还有其他人。”
实际上，它可以迫使推特和其他渠道放弃未来的“事实核查”努力。特朗普说这将是一件好事。
特朗普表示:“参与审查或任何政治行为的社交媒体公司将无法保住它们的责任保护罩，这是一件大事。”。“他们有盾牌；他们不会有盾牌。”
推特和脸书没有回应新闻周刊请求对订单进行评论。
谷歌发言人告诉记者新闻周刊该公司依赖于“清晰的内容政策，我们执行这些政策时不考虑政治观点”
“我们的平台赋予了来自不同政治派别的各种各样的人和组织权力，让他们有发言权，并以新的方式接触到他们的受众。这位女发言人说:“以这种方式破坏230条款将损害美国经济及其在互联网自由方面的全球领导地位。”。
科技游说团体网络选择公司(NetChoice)的副总裁兼法律总顾问卡尔·绍博(Carl Szabo)称该行政命令是“危险的先例”。网络选择公司的成员包括推特、谷歌和脸书
“无论你是自由派还是保守派，你都应该担心一个政府会提出社交媒体平台上允许和不允许的规则，”绍博说新闻周刊。“这是在为另一届政府或外国政府制作剧本，试图控制他们认为社交媒体平台上应该允许哪些类型的内容，以及应该删除哪些类型的内容。”
司法部长比尔·巴尔说，他还将为国会或各州立法，考虑控制社交媒体公司。
“各州在这一领域拥有广泛而强大的监管权力，他们也会这样做。我们鼓励他们这样做，如果他们看到的和我们看到的完全一样，”巴尔告诉记者。
推特首席执行官杰克·多西为该网站周二“核实”特朗普两条推文的决定进行了辩护。
“我们将继续指出全球选举中不正确或有争议的信息。我们将承认并承认我们犯下的任何错误，”他周三晚上在推特上写道。“这并不能让我们成为‘真理的仲裁者’我们的意图是把相互矛盾的陈述联系起来，并展示有争议的信息，这样人们就可以自己判断了。"
科技巨头们的顾问绍博告诉记者新闻周刊推特在特朗普的推文中添加了一个标签，而不是删除这些推文或特朗普的大量推文中报道的任何其他内容。
“认识到这一点很重要，特别是对于支持这一努力的保守派来说，社交媒体是表达保守派声音和保守价值观的最佳工具之一，”他说。“这让他们能够以前所未有的方式到达中美洲。”
特朗普通常一天发多次推特——经常预览他将采取的行动或向人们和媒体表达个人不满——告诉记者，他会“立刻”删除自己的账户，但他认为如果没有直接的沟通方式，他不会得到公平的媒体报道。
非营利研究机构沙巴兹表示，推特通过将特朗普的推文与背景信息联系起来，遵循了专家们认为危害最小的剧本。
“推特正在标记特朗普总统的推文，并提供更多信息，”他说。"提供语境不是审查."
他说，随着互联网的发展，230条款中的保护措施已经成为全球范围内的典范。
沙赫巴兹说:“我们需要小心改造一些我们所知的互联网基石。”。“我们需要非常仔细地思考，这不仅对美国的言论自由，而且对全球都有什么样的影响”
Donald Trump's Social Media Order Could Have Global Impact—The 'World is Watching,' Tech Experts Say
President Donald Trump appears at an event in Washington, D.C., on May 26. After Twitter fact-checked two of his posts claiming mail-in ballots would lead to fraud, Trump accused the social platform and others of violating free speech and threatened to “close them down.”
President Donald Trump doesn't care if his new executive order targeting social media platforms sparks a lawsuit.
"I guess it's going to be challenged in court, but what isn't?" Trump told reporters Thursday shortly before signing the order in the Oval Office. "We're fed up with it."
But tech experts predict the order could have a chilling effect on the future of social media—not just in the United States, but globally.
"The world is watching. How we tackle this complex issue matters," Adrian Shahbazz, a researcher with FreedomHouse, a nonprofit think tank focused on democracy, political freedom and human rights, told Newsweek. "We need to make sure we are using all components of our democracy to ensure that whatever policy we make goes through the appropriate process of deliberation and review and reaching out to affected stakeholders."
The order comes mere days after Twitter linked two of Trump's tweets about mail-in voting to a fact check page noting that, historically, voting by mail hasn't been linked to evidence of widespread voter fraud.
It was one of the first times that Twitter has used its new labeling system and the first time it had been directed at the president, who tweets frequently.
Trump's order would remove a crucial liability shield for social media platforms under the Communications Decency Act if they censure or edit content. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects such platforms from liability because they are considered forums for sharing ideas, rather than traditional publishers responsible for content.
The order also would ban the federal government from spending money to advertise on platforms that violate outlined "free speech principles."
"They're editorial decisions—in those moments, Twitter ceases to be a neutral public platform," Trump told reporters. "They become an editor with a viewpoint. I think we can say that about others, also, whether you're looking at Google, whether you're looking at Facebook and perhaps others."
In effect, it could strong-arm Twitter and other outlets into dropping future "fact check" endeavors. Trump said that would be a good thing.
"Social media companies that engage in censoring or any political conduct will not be able to keep their liability shield, that's a big deal," Trump said. "They have a shield; they're not gonna have a shield."
Twitter and Facebook did not respond to Newsweek's requests for comment on the order.
A Google spokeswoman told Newsweek the company relies on "clear content policies and we enforce them without regard to political viewpoint."
"Our platforms have empowered a wide range of people and organizations from across the political spectrum, giving them a voice and new ways to reach their audiences. Undermining Section 230 in this way would hurt America's economy and its global leadership on internet freedom," the spokeswoman said.
Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, a tech lobby arm whose members include Twitter, Google and Facebook, called the executive order a "dangerous precedent."
"Whether you are a liberal or conservative, you should worry about an administration proposing rules for what can and cannot be allowed on social media platforms," Szabo told Newsweek. "This is creating a playbook for another administration or foreign government to try to control what type of content they think should be allowed on social media platforms and what types of content they think should be removed."
Attorney General Bill Barr said he will also work on legislation for Congress or individual states to consider to rein in social media companies.
"The states have broad and powerful authority to regulate in this arena and they'll be doing it also. We encourage them to do it if they see exactly as we've been seeing," Barr told reporters.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended the site's decision to "fact check" Trump's two tweets on Tuesday.
"We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make," he wrote on Twitter Wednesday evening. "This does not make us an 'arbiter of truth.' Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves."
Szabo, the counsel for the tech titans, told Newsweek that Twitter added a label to Trump's tweets rather than deleting them or any others that have been reported from Trump's prolific feed.
"It's important to recognize that, especially for conservatives who are championing this effort, social media has been one of the best tools for conservative voices and conservative values," he said. "It's enabled them to reach middle America in ways they could never have before."
Trump, who typically tweets multiple times a day—often previewing actions he will take or airing private grievances with people and media outlets—told reporters that he would delete his account "in a heartbeat" but doesn't think he would get fair media coverage without the direct mode of communication.
Shahbazz, the nonprofit researcher, said Twitter was following what experts consider the least harmful playbook by linking Trump's tweet to background information.
"Twitter was flagging President Trump's tweet and providing more information," he said. "Providing context is not censorship."
He said the protections in Section 230 have been a model world-wide as the Internet has grown.
"We need to be careful about reforming something that's been a cornerstone of the Internet as we know it," Shahbazz said. "We need to think very carefully about what sort of implications this will have not only for free speech here in the United States, but globally"
