FCC chair drops Trump demand

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said he won’t move forward with an order trimming a liability shield for social media companies, effectively killing the request from President Donald Trump.

Pai said there isn’t enough time to complete a rulemaking before he leaves office Jan. 20, according to Anne Veigle, a spokeswoman for the FCC.

FCC Democrats oppose the measure and needn’t take it up once they gain control of the agency as Joe Biden takes office Jan. 20.

The Commerce Department, under orders from Trump, asked the FCC to offer an interpretation of Section 230 that critics said would leave Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and others more vulnerable to litigation for moderating the posts of users.

Trump and others on the right have long accused social media platforms of censoring conservatives, something that the technology giants deny.