Thankfully, this seems like a tempest in a teapot. No one is demanding that
Internet providers censor anything, and no one is demanding that social media
sites censor anything either. In fact, no one should be demanding anything at
all from the FCC, on this issue.
Trump is asking that social media sites merely DISCLOSE their content
management policies, to their users. The sites are still free to relay whatever
their users write, to exaggerate whatever issues they want to hype up, or to
block content what the site might find distasteful. The only thing being asked
here is disclosure of the site's policies.
Fair enough. If a user finds a social media site to be too liberal, go find
another one, or create a new site.
The mistake the administration is making, oddly enough, is to assume the job
belongs to the FCC. The FCC's job is to ensure neutrality of the telecoms (and
not related to this, to monitor what the OTA broadcasters air). This job,
instead, actually does belong to the FTC.
So, Republicans, don't talk out of both sides of your mouths. As the FCC
Chairman has disingenuously preached in the past, when net neutrality was the
issue, the FTC's job is to ensure that businesses disclose their policies
plainly. Let's remind the FCC Chairman:
https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/federal-trade-commission
"The Federal Trade Commission works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and
unfair business practices. They also provide information to help consumers
spot, stop, and avoid scams and fraud."
For social media sites, which compete against one another, the responsibility
applies exactly to the FTC. For net neutrality, which addresses specifically
the telecom services, and for which there usually is no competing service
available, merely "disclosing" your non-neutral policies is not good enough.
The telecoms, like the mail service, like the telephone service, must be
neutral, or these services would be close to useless.
Bert
-------------------------------------------------
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-trump-idUSKCN24S2QM
July 27, 2020 / 6:37 PM / Updated an hour ago
Trump administration petitions FCC on social media content rules
David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Commerce Department agency on Monday petitioned
the Federal Communications Commission to reinterpret a 1996 law to require
transparency in how social media companies moderate content, after President
Donald Trump asked it to intervene in the matter.
Trump directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) to file the petition after Twitter in May warned readers to fact-check
his posts about unsubstantiated claims of fraud in mail-in voting.
Trump's executive order asked the NTIA to petition the FCC to write regulations
stemming from Section 230, a provision of the Communications Decency Act that
shields social media companies from liability for content posted by their users
and allows them to remove lawful but objectionable posts.
The NTIA said in Monday's petition it wants the FCC to require social media
firms to "publicly disclose accurate information regarding its
content-management mechanisms" to "enable users to make more informed choices
about competitive alternatives."
Trump, a Republican who is running for re-election on Nov. 3, has repeatedly
expressed anger at social media companies. On Monday, he said Twitter's
trending topics feature was unfair.
"They look for anything they can find, make it as bad as possible, and blow it
up, trying to make it trend," he wrote.
Both Democratic commissioners on the five-member FCC said the commission should
quickly reject the petition.
"The FCC shouldn't take this bait. While social media can be frustrating,
turning this agency into the President's speech police is not the answer," FCC
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a written statement.
Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr said the "petition provides an opportunity
to bring much-needed clarity to the statutory text."
Twitter has called Trump's executive order "a reactionary and politicized
approach to a landmark law."
A spokesman for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has said in the past he does not see
a role for the FCC to regulate websites like Twitter, Facebook or Alphabet's
Google, said on Monday the agency "will carefully review the petition."
The FCC could take a year or longer to finalize any rules.
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