President Donald Trump and his allies have long railed against the so-called suppression of conservative ideas on popular social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook.
These complaints have only increased since these outlets began pushing back against misinformation and falsehoods peddled by Republicans, particularly regarding lies spread about the virus that's killed over 200 thousand Americans this year.
On Monday evening, the President made his dramatic return to the White House after undergoing treatment for the virus at Walter Reed Medical Center, where he received supplemental oxygen and a cocktail of heavy drugs.
It took Trump less than 24 hours after returning to the residence before he began spreading disinformation about the virus that he himself is still fighting.
Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
Trump once again equated the virus with the flu, not acknowledging that flu deaths don't run the risk of hospitals maximizing capacity. The President himself acknowledged in a February interview with journalist Bob Woodward that the virus was more deadly than even the "most strenuous flus." The tapes of that interview didn't come to light until earlier this summer.
Twitter flagged the tweet as misinformation, which led Trump to call for the repeal of Section 230.
REPEAL SECTION 230!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
230 is a section in the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which states:
"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."
It's Section 230 that protects social media outlets like Twitter from liability for what their users post.
Without this legal protection, these private companies would be forced to expand the monitoring of millions of daily posts in order to avoid accountability for potential damages or illegal activity resulting from their users.
On Twitter, Trump has publicly accused people of murder, called for violence against civilians, and spread false information about precautions against the virus.
The repeal of 230 would mean Twitter could be held accountable for all of this—a liability that would almost certainly result in the deletion of Trump's account.
People didn't hesitate to point this out.
I know that this dude is impervious to information. But if Section 230 were repealed, Twitter would be liable for any libelous statements in Trump's tweets, and would almost certainly delete his account. https://t.co/TACdbiVc0R
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) October 6, 2020
That would lead to deleting your account since you're one of the greatest abusers of the truth. @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/J0kfRbAB6E
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) October 6, 2020
That's fine by me. You and your friends would then immediately be banished from social media within minutes. https://t.co/WaxniQU62W
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) October 6, 2020
Daily reminder that Presidents attorneys invoked #Section230 to protect him from liability for a retweet he did https://t.co/iN5HisuGF2
— Ashkhen Kazaryan (@Ashkhen) October 6, 2020
If Section 230 is repealed, no startup focused on user content will ever be created again.
Basically, Web 2.0 would be over – and only billionaires would be able to pay compliance to manage the flow of information. https://t.co/w8pVYXFRl8
— Stephen Punwasi (@StephenPunwasi) October 6, 2020
This campaign is much more idiotic than his first campaign. https://t.co/VohZO0ltfu
— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) October 6, 2020
Even some of the President's supporters cautioned against the total removal of 230.
You know I'm a big fan and want you to be re-elected.. but we need put teeth in 230. That's what allegedly forces social media to be unbiased. It's certainly not working.
— Joe Pags Pagliarulo (@JoeTalkShow) October 6, 2020
To clarify, section 230 needs reform, not a total repeal. Must protect independent media still and also ensure social media cannot discriminate against or censor thoughts or politics they don't like.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) October 6, 2020
Others mocked him.
INVOKE THE 25TH!
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) October 6, 2020
You don't know what this is, do you? #BidenCares
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 6, 2020
REPEAL TRUMP!
— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) October 6, 2020
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