Long-held debate over social media companies could come to a head

Q What does this mean for the debate over whether social media firms are ‘publishers’?

A Trump’s executive order has revitalised a long-held debate about whether social media companies should be treated as active publishers or merely platforms.

Under Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, social media companies, unlike traditional publishers, are not held liable for what is posted on their services as they are seen as “platforms” for user generated content.

Some argue that billion dollar companies should be responsible for wild claims made on their services. But others say stricter policing would greatly inhibit free speech.

Q Has Donald Trump shot himself in the foot?

A A change to the law will stifle more speech online, not less. If platforms do become publishers, more content will be removed than ever before if tech giants fear lawsuits. This could drastically limit the free speech the president is claiming to protect.

Q Why did Jack Dorsey take the step now?

A Twitter has been caught in the crossfire of the free speech versus harmful content debate for years, largely because of its patchy policing of its own policies against hate and violence. It has been criticised for removing some threatening tweets but retaining others, including one made by the president himself in 2018 in which he warned he would visit “fire and fury” upon North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

In response, Jack Dorsey claimed that the tweets of a high-profile user should not be deleted, regardless of whether they violate policy, as they were “newsworthy”. Instead, Twitter would find a workaround to label them.

Q Why has Facebook gone the other way?

A Facebook adds warnings to articles containing fake news but says politicians are exempt from its fact-checking policy. In a blow to Dorsey, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said that Twitter was wrong to fact check Trump, saying that private companies should not serve as an “arbiter of truth”. Politically, this is a good opportunity for Zuckerberg to curry favour with the president.

Q What happens next in the story?

A Proving that companies are limiting free speech, which Trump says is grounds to revoke Section 230, will be incredibly difficult. However, he is able to ban federal agencies from spending advertising on social media platforms, which could prove problematic ahead of the 2020 election.