Internet
Internet platforms: Biden Withdraws Trump decree
US President Joe Biden has reversed a decree that his predecessor Donald Trump wanted to limit the scope of online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to take action against user posts. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Under which rules platforms such as Twitter or Facebook should deal with controversial user contributions, should be regulated anew. However, US President Biden is now overturning the decree of his predecessor.
US President Joe Biden has reversed a decree that his predecessor Donald Trump wanted to limit the scope of online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to take action against user posts.
Trump had responded with the move in May last year to the fact that Twitter began to provide warnings to his tweets. At that time, he decreed that the implementation of a rule, which is regarded as the cornerstone for the handling of user contributions, should be rearranged.
The so-called” Section 230 ” provides, among other things, that online platforms cannot be prosecuted for contributions by their users. At the same time, however, you will be obliged to intervene in the case of illegal contributions as soon as you become aware of them. In addition, you are granted freedom to take action against individual content and users in accordance with your own rules. “Section 230” is thus considered the legal basis that has made many services – such as Twitter, Facebook or Youtube – possible in their current form.
The trigger for Trump’s attack on online platforms was the fact check of a tweet in which he claimed that postal voting increases the risk of counterfeiting. This unsubstantiated claim later became the basis of his attempt to challenge his defeat in the November 2020 presidential election. Biden withdrew the Trump decree of May 28, 2020 without comment over the weekend.
Trump’s administration later accused Facebook and Google of unfair competition in lawsuits. What will become of this approach is still unclear, as many politicians of Biden’s Democrats also find that the Internet giants have too much economic power.
