After row with Twitter, Trump signs executive order preventing online censorship

Days after Twitter, for the first time, tagged United States President Donald Trump's tweet as “potentially misleading" United States President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to prevent online censorship by tech corporations, including social media platforms.

"In a country that has long cherished the freedom of expression, we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand pick the speech that Americans may access and convey on the internet.  This practice is fundamentally un-American and anti-democratic," the executive order stated.

"Online platforms are engaging in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse.  Tens of thousands of Americans have reported, among other troubling behaviors, online platforms “flagging” content as inappropriate, even though it does not violate any stated terms of service; making unannounced and unexplained changes to company policies that have the effect of disfavoring certain viewpoints; and deleting content and entire accounts with no warning, no rationale, and no recourse," it added.

"Today, I am signing an Executive Order to protect and uphold the free speech and rights of the American people," Trump said at the signing of the executive order.

Trump directed the attorney general to work with states to enforce their laws against deceptive business practices."The states have broad and powerful authority to regulate in this arena," Trump said.

The recent development comes after Trump accused mail-In ballots to be substantially fraudulent in a tweet which was tagged as misleading by Twitter.

"There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mailboxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone.....," Trump tweeted.

The tweet was in reaction to California’s efforts to expand mail-in voting due to COVID-19. In a handful of states, a ballot is automatically mailed to every eligible voter, instead of the concerned person casting his/her vote in a polling booth, also known as in-person voting. 

The tweet by Trump has a link attached to it which says "Get the facts about mail-in ballots”. The link leads to a collection of media reports fact-checking the President's statements.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had defended the actions of  the microblogging website, saying that it will continue to point out wrong information.

Dorsey’s reaction came after Trump threatened the company with big action that can come in the form of an executive order soon.

He said that Twitter would continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally.

"Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that's me. Please leave our employees out of this. We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make," tweeted Dorsey.

"Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions," Dorsey said in another tweet.