Trump’s Twitter order ‘unlikely to survive a challenge’

by

US President Donald Trump is escalating his war on social media companies, signing an executive order challenging the liability protections that have served as a bedrock for unfettered speech on the internet.

The move follows the President lashing out at Twitter in recent days for applying fact checks to two of his tweets.

Mr Trump said the fact checks were “editorial decisions” by Twitter and amounted to political activism.

He said it should cost those companies their protection from lawsuits for what is posted on their platforms.

The order, which proposes modifying a law known as Section 230, directs executive branch agencies including the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to study whether they can place new rules on the companies.

Section 230 protects internet companies from liability for content posted by their users.