As usual, only the littlest mouse was brave enough to put a bell around the cat. On Tuesday it was Tiny Twitter, not fearsome Facebook or ubiquitous YouTube, that moved to hold the president of the United States to account for his unhinged rants on social media. The platform had its choice of tirades to clean up: Trump’s foul insinuation that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough murdered an intern who died nearly two decades ago, or his false claim that mail-in ballots abet fraud rather than expanding the franchise in vital ways during a pandemic. Twitter chose the latter, since it relates to our democracy.
Below a presidential tweet claiming, “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” Twitter added an exclamation point and a link to “get the facts about mail-in ballots.” Arguably, the note could be read as an endorsement: Mail-in ballots are threatening our elections? Yes, I would like to learn the disturbing facts! But clicking brings a set of bullet points that describe Trump’s claims as “unsubstantiated.”
By Thursday, the White House responded with an executive order instructing federal agencies to try to roll back the liability protections afforded online companies by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Whether this will survive judicial scrutiny is almost besides the point. When presented with the gentlest of rebukes, Trump immediately threatened the relatively smooth sailing that has allowed these companies to grow into corporate behemoths.
If ever there was a thought that the social networks could finesse their way through the question of whether and when to block hateful, damaging content, that has now been extinguished. Trump’s online presence has led to its demise. To act, or not to act, is to pick a side in a political battle. If you cross me, Trump says, I will use my political power to punish you and make you reconsider. In addition to trying to sic agencies on social networks that restrict content on their sites, the executive orde
