WASHINGTON — This feud between the president and Twitter has highlighted an ongoing debate: Should social media companies have the ability to decide what you should or shouldn’t see?
If you missed it, on Tuesday President Trump tweeted about mail-in-ballot fraud in elections. Twitter attached a fact check to this tweet countering his claims.
Trump got mad.
“It's tantamount to taking over the air waves," Trump claimed. "Can't let it happen."
He then signed an executive order asking the FCC to remove the legal liability shield for websites that censor free speech.
"They have a shield. They can do what they want," he said. "They're not gonna have that shield."
Basically, a 1996 law protects internet companies from being sued or held responsible for what people write or say on their sites.
The president wants to remove that shield if platforms like Twitter censor or delete free speech. Legal scholars believe that without a change In the law, this executive order has no teeth. So, it won’t do anything.
But the whole feud has re-ignited an ongoing discussion: Should social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram censor or pull-down free speech if it violates their company’s standards?
Online, like you would expect, opinions vary.
RELATED: Twitter tags Trump's 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts' tweet as 'glorifying violence'
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Fox News has said he does not believe social media should be an arbiter of truth.
It is a debate that has gone on since the first Internet launched, but it took the president’s feud to bring it to the forefront.
