Trump's leaked EO to tackle anti-conservative bias

Chris0nllyn

Well-Known Member
The White House is circulating drafts of a proposed executive order that would address allegations of anti-conservative bias by social media companies, according to a White House official and two other people familiar with the matter — a month after President Donald Trump pledged to explore "all regulatory and legislative solutions" on the issue.
“Outsourcing censorship to the government is not just a bad idea, it would violate the First Amendment,” tweeted Carr, who is a Trump appointee. “I’m a no.”

Conservatives have also spent decades opposing any attempt to revive the FCC's old Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to be balanced in their programming on controversial issues. "FCC bureaucrats can neither determine what is 'fair' nor enforce it," the Heritage Foundation said in 1993.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/07/white-house-tech-censorship-1639051

A draft executive order from the White House could put the Federal Communications Commission in charge of shaping how Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and other large tech companies curate what appears on their websites, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/tech/white-house-social-media-executive-order-fcc-ftc/index.html
 

Yooper

Up. Identified. Lase. Fire. On the way.
Yup, this is a tough one.

I guess the best I can come up with (as I try to sort through the mess that is social media) is that when a company (in any sector, but in this case, social media) fails to police itself then we should give strong consideration to move into "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" territory.

I think we are at that point; too much smoke for there to be no fire, as it were.

Thanks for the post.

--- End of line (MCP)
 

Yooper

Up. Identified. Lase. Fire. On the way.
Just saw this:

Yet another reason why this is a Gordian Knot for me; why I'm fence-sitting. I know I don't WANT to go into government oversight of social media, but I see what appears to be too much monkey business on the part of social media entities that have become de facto public interests.

The fix would appear to be quite straight-forward, but there's no public consensus (social media has become a political zero sum game).

Sorry. Random thoughts.

--- End of line (MCP)
 
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