President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at major social media companies after Twitter applied a warning label on one of the president’s Twitter posts.
Spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said on Air Force One, traveling with Trump to Washington from Florida, that Trump will be signing an executive order “pertaining to social media.” She did not provide more details.
The White House pool later confirmed the executive order will be signed on Thursday.
The president posted to Twitter late Wednesday denouncing alleged censorship efforts of “Big Tech” ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.
“Big Tech is doing everything in their very considerable power to CENSOR in advance of the 2020 Election. If that happens, we no longer have our freedom,” Trump wrote.
“I will never let it happen! They tried hard in 2016, and lost,” he added. “Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!”
Two Republican lawmakers, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), announced on Wednesday that they are working on legislation that would remove federal protections for companies like Twitter that release the company from being held liable for what is posted on its platform.
“I will introduce legislation to end these special government giveaways,” Hawley wrote on Twitter. “If [Twitter] wants to editorialize & comment on users’ posts, it should be divested of its special status under federal law (Section 230) & forced to play by same rules as all other publishers. Fair is fair.”
Hawley also shared a letter he sent to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey demanding a response by June 15 to provide “the sources on which Twitter relied to decide to editorialize regarding the President’s political speech.” The senator also asked Dorsey to “explain why you think that companies that act like publishers should not be treated like publishers.”
“It makes little sense to treat companies that publish their editorial comments about others’ content as if they are mere distributors. Companies that act like publishers should be treated like publishers. Section 230 should not treat Twitter and neutral internet service providers in the same way when they function so differently,” Hawley wrote.
Gaetz announced on Wednesday that he was “working on legislation to revise Section 230 so we don’t have election interference from companies like Twitter.”
