President Trump's Authority to Close Down Social Media

President Trump claimed he has the authority to regulate social media platforms. But does he?

Some Trump supporters believe that social media platforms should be treated like publishers, which can face lawsuits over their content. Republican Senator Josh Hawley said, “Big tech gets a huge handout from the federal government. 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.”

Social media sites have long been treated as platforms under federal law, which means that there is little to no federal regulation. Trump began working on a draft order after Twitter applied a fact-check to two of his tweets. The executive order, signed Thursday, May 28, 2020, regulates the power of social media platforms. The order reinterprets the Communications Decency Act, particularly Section 230, which provides broad immunity to self-regulating, self-curated websites. The draft order states, “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 online. 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."

Our investigation shows that if the order passes, it will be easier to sue social media companies. It will also compel the Federal Trade Commission to report to the White House. However, as an independent agency, the Federal Trade Commission does not historically report to the President.