US President Donald Trump threatens to repeal Section 230, US law protecting social media companies, after Twitter blocks his tweet for rule violation

US President Donald Trump has threatened to repeal Section 230, which provides protection to social media companies in America after Twitter blocked one of his tweets for a rule violation. This was the second time in three days that the microblogging site inflicted public insults on Trump.

Reacting to protests in Minnesota, Trump had warned of a brutal crackdown to quell the violence. He had tweeted, “I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”

In his subsequent tweet, Trump issued a chilling threat to shoot down those protesting on the streets of Minnesota. He wrote, “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”

Twitter did not react kindly to his second tweet and partially blocked the post for its rule violation. It wrote, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”

As expected, Trump reacted with anger as he threatened to regulate Twitter and repeal Section 230. He said, “Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party. They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated!”

Section 230 protects digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet’s Google from being responsible for the material posted by users.

Earlier this week, Twitter had marked two of Trump’s tweets for fact-check implying that the US president was indulging in fake news ahead of this year’s presidential elections. Angered by this extraordinary insults, Trump had vowed to teach Twitter a lesson. But, far from being fazed, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had defended his company’s policy on fake news.