Social media have no right to special immunity, chairman says.
On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency will seek to regulate social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook in accordance with President Trump’s executive order signed earlier this year.
“Members of all three branches of the federal government have expressed serious concerns about the prevailing interpretation of the immunity set forth in Section 230 of the Communications Act. There is bipartisan support in Congress to reform the law,” Pai said in a statement. “Social media companies have a First Amendment right to free speech. But they do not have a First Amendment right to a special immunity denied to other media outlets, such as newspapers and broadcasters.”
Chairman Pai stated in a tweet, “I intend to move forward with an FCC rulemaking to clarify the meaning of Section 230.”
Pai’s decision to move forward follows a series of censorship decisions made Wednesday and Thursday by Facebook and Twitter against a New York Post article regarding former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The tech companies’ actions have set up a firestorm of debate and opinion across the government and in the private sector.
Of the incident, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday said, “This is election interference, and we are 19 days out from an election. Never before have we seen active censorship of a major press publication with serious allegations of corruption of one of the two candidates for president.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the president’s administration as speech and information suppression by social media platforms is addressed.
- For the FCC as laws and regulations are clarified and properly applied.
- That the First Amendment rights to free speech would be protected for all Americans.
Sources: The Verge, CNBC
