US President Donald Trump signs executive order 'defending free speech' after Twitter row

Days after a row with Twitter over fact-check of his tweets, President Donald Trump on Thursday has signed an executive order targeting social media companies and has called out 'selective censorship' by some online platforms. Briefing reporters about order from Oval Office, Trump has said that it is aimed at defending free speech from one of 'gravest danger.'

Clarifying that power distribution among online platforms was 'un-American and anti-democratic', Trump in his executive order said that  country cant allow a 'limited number of online platforms to handpick speech that Americans may access'. Even as Trump assured that he is for a 'free and open debate' on internet, he said: "Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense if t unprecedented power to shape interpretation of public events; to censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or do t see." order directs executive branch ncies to ask independent rule-making ncies including Federal Communications Commission and Federal Tre Commission to study wher y can place new regulations on companies.

Moreover, Trump went on to accuse online platforms of amplifying China’s propaganda abro - "y are allowing Chinese government officials to use ir platforms to spre misinformation regarding origins of COVID-19 pandemic, and to undermine pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong."

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Upping his attack on Twitter, Trump said: "Twitter w selectively decides to place a warning label on certain tweets in a manner that clearly reflects political bias.  As has been reported, Twitter seems never to have placed such a label on ar politician’s tweet.  As recently as last week, Representative am Schiff was continuing to misle his followers by peddling long-disproved Russian Collusion Hoax, and Twitter did t flag those tweets.  Unsurprisingly, its officer in charge of so-called ‘Site Integrity’ has flaunted his political bias in his own tweets." 

Here is order:

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Twitter flags  Trump's error

On Tuesday, Twitter flagged Donald Trump's tweets regarding mail-in ballots, calling it 'potentially misleing.' Trump h tweeted: “Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed”.

Shortly after his tweets were flagged, Trump lashed out at Twitter stating that social networking firm is 'interfering' with  US Presidential elections. Trump went on to threaten that as President, he will 't allow' 'stifling of free speech'. Trump's campaign team for upcoming elections also released a statement explaining that Twitter was trying to stop President's mess go through to voters.

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Twitter CEO defends 'fact-checking'

However, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated that social networking site would 'continue to point out incorrect information' about elections globally. In a series of tweets, Jack Dorsey claimed that Trump's tweets on mail-in-ballots could misle people into thinking that y did t need to register for a ballot which could cause chaos since only registered voters receive ballots. Dorsey also took full responsibility for this move saying that while Twitter was t an 'arbiter of truth', it's intention was to provide correct information alongside conflicting statements to let people be ultimate judge. 

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