Is Trump really unpredictable? Maybe so. But one prediction about what he will do can be ventured: among the 100 executive orders he will issue, as soon as he sets foot in the White House again, will not be the one he had -rightly- adopted on May 28, 2020, and which was boycotted by Congress.
Trump's watchword then was this tweet "Revoke 230".
Meaning. Trump wanted to delete a 26-word provision without which the Internet and social media today would be very different, less powerful and less dangerous. The 26 words are the text of Section 230 of the "Communications Decency Act" passed in 1996, in the prehistory of the digital age-Google came on the scene after two years, Facebook after 8 and Twitter after 10.That's what this Section 230 provides?
"No Internet service provider or user can be held responsible, as publisher or author, for any information provided by a third party."
It means that the owners of companies operating on the Internet-from social media to news sites-are not liable for user-generated content, except in cases of sexual exploitation of children, various sex crimes, and copyright infringement. In short, if someone slanders us on Facebook, X etc., we cannot sue Zuckerberg or Musk, but only the author of the text-assuming he or she is identifiable behind pseudonyms and really exists and is not artfully created profiles to manipulate information or destroy people's credibility and honor .
This immunity has triggered a perverse mechanism particularly with fake news. If a newspaper publishes fake news it is obliged to correct it. If fake news appears on social media this obligation does not exist. A newspaper that habitually publishes fake news loses readers and publicity. A social when it publishes fake news disproportionately increases its traffic and thus gains.
All of this has undermined our social life at the root, feeding the viruses of hatred, violence, and intolerance; it has given a free hand to unscrupulous and criminal, often preyed upon by private groups or rogue states, who artfully spread fake news, misinformation, and innuendo that have devastating effects because they propagate quickly and are self-feeding. Platforms always make money from it. Algorithms maximize what makes a buzz .
Not only that. This immunity poses the gravest threat to our institutions, given its use to manipulate election campaigns by dictatorships fighting against our democracies
Trump had stated 5 years ago that Section 230 " is a shield against accountability gifted to Big Tech, a serious threat to national security and election integrity, one of the greatest dangers in America's history."
It will be said that Trump was saying these things because he was then a victim of social media. But the problem he was raising exists. It was also said of Berlusconi that he thundered against the political use of justice for personal reasons. But the problem Berlusconi posed existed and exists.
Trump in December 2020 (when by then Biden had been elected) threatened to even veto the U.S. defense budget if Congress did not remove Section 230. Then there was the January 6, 2021...
Now what? On the campaign trail Trump had as his main supporter Elon Musk, who helped him not only with an avalanche of money but also with his X, a social used as a personal tool of political struggle-exactly what Trump wanted to fight against when he wrote "Revoke 230" on Twitter. Not only that.
Zuckerberg was quick to align himself with Trump by eliminating fact-checking, deleting programs on inclusion and minority protection, and effectively giving the green light to the uncontrolled circulation-if not from phantom community notes-of every falsehood.
In short, Trump, without blowback, has today in his court the owners of X, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp.
Will he have the courage to resume the battle launched in May 2020 against Section 230? If he did, he would indeed be an unpredictable leader.....
https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1333965375193624578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1333965375193624578%7Ctwgr%5Ec5d65168aee95957a66eb0b571e9108f972b42ed%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2020%2F12%2F02%2F941019533%2Ftrump-vows-to-veto-defense-bill-unless-shield-for-big-tech-is-scrapped
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