Disinformation experts blast Trump’s executive order on government censorship as ‘direct assault on reality’
While conservatives view President Trump’s January executive order restoring ‘freedom of speech and ending federal censorship’ as the fulfillment of a promise to end government collusion with Big Tech platforms to censor their voices, many disinformation experts warn the move only furthers the spread of false information on social media, which can become dangerous in times of multiple crises.
CNN
One of President Donald Trump’s first actions as he returned to the Oval Office in January was signing an executive order aimed at “restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship” of US citizens.
The order bans federal officials from any conduct that “would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen” and instructs the attorney general to investigate if the Biden administration engaged in efforts to censor Americans.
“Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate,” the order states.
Right-wing media figures and some Republicans in Congress have for years decried what they claim are efforts by Democrats and technology platforms to censor their speech online, especially around the Covid-19 pandemic and elections. The Supreme Court ruled last year the US government can contact social media companies about mis- and disinformation swirling on their platforms, handing the Biden administration a major victory.
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