Donald Trump has taken yet another swing at Twitter, accusing the micro-blogging platform of "stifling free speech", because it continues to flag his posts about the 2020 presidential election. Trump, who insists that massive voter fraud altered the outcome of the elections, warned that this kind of moderation is "how communism starts".
Twitter is going wild with their flags, trying hard to suppress even the truth. Just shows how dangerous they are, purposely stifling free speech. Very dangerous for our Country. Does Congress know that this is how Communism starts? Cancel Culture at its worst. End Section 230!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2020
Earlier this month, both Twitter and Facebook put a warning label on a video statement by Trump about alleged fraud in the presidential election.
Twitter flagged the video with a disclaimer "This claim about election irregularities is disputed", while Facebook attached a link to its Voter Information Centre explaining that voter fraud is an extremely rare occurrence in the US.
The post contained an excerpt from Trump's video statement, where POTUS pledged to protect the election system in the United States, which according to him "was under coordinated assault and siege".
Facebook and Twitter have repeatedly flagged Trump's posts as containing misleading information, especially when it comes to mail-in ballots, which Trump has often slammed for supposedly being easy to rig.
The president previously vetoed the 2021 National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), because of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 - a provision that ensures protection of social media companies like Facebook and Twitter from being held liable for the content posted by their users.
"Your failure to terminate the very dangerous national security risk of Section 230 will make our intelligence virtually impossible to conduct without everyone knowing what we are doing at every step", Trump said. "Section 230 facilitates the spread of foreign disinformation online, which is a serious threat to our national security and election integrity. It must be repealed".
He once characterised Section 230 as a "serious threat" to US national security and election integrity and a "liability shielding gift from the US to 'Big Tech'".
The legislation, meant to protect minors from the flow of internet porn, has become the target of escalating criticism from both parties, with some lawmakers accusing the platforms of aggressive censorship, while others claim the social media networks are responsible for the mass disinformation campaigns found on the internet.
The CEOs of Facebook and Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, warned against the elimination of Section 230 during their respective testimonies in the Senate, noting, however, that the bill should be updated.
