US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order targeting social media firms, the White House has said.
It comes after he threatened to shut down social media platforms he accused of stifling conservative voices.
The latest dispute emerged after Twitter added fact-check links to his tweets for the first time.
The order’s details have not been shared and it is unclear what regulatory steps the president can take without new laws passed by Congress.
White House officials gave no further information on what is expected in the executive order which is set to be signed on Thursday.
Before leaving Washington for Florida to watch a space launch that was postponed due to bad weather, Mr Trump again accused Twitter and other social media of bias, without offering evidence.
Mr Trump also continued his criticism of social media platforms on Twitter, ending a tweet with: “Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!”
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. I will never let it happen! They tried hard in 2016, and lost. Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2020
The long-running dispute between Mr Trump and social media companies flared up again on Tuesday when one of his posts was given a fact-check label by Twitter for the first time.
He had tweeted, without providing evidence: “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.”
Twitter added a warning label to the post and linked to a page that described the claims as “unsubstantiated”.
On Wednesday Mr Trump threatened to “strongly regulate” or even “close down” social media platforms.
He tweeted to his more than 80 million followers that Republicans felt the platforms “totally silence conservatives” and that he would not allow this to happen. In an earlier tweet, he said that Twitter was “completely stifling free speech”.
Twitter’s chief executive Jack Dorsey responded to criticism of the platform’s fact-checking policies in a series of posts, saying: “We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally.”
Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
Mr Trump wrote a similar post on Facebook about mail-in ballots on Tuesday, and no such warnings were applied.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said censoring a social media platform would not be the “right reflex” for a government concerned about censorship. Fox said it would play its full interview with Mr Zuckerberg on Thursday.
Twitter has tightened its policies in recent years as it faced criticism that its hands-off approach was helping fake accounts and misinformation to thrive.
Some of America’s biggest technology companies have also been accused of anti-competitive practices and violating their users’ privacy. Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon face antitrust probes by federal and state authorities and a US congressional panel.
Shares in both Twitter and Facebook fell in Wednesday’s trading session in New York.
Facebook, Twitter and Google did not immediately reply to requests from the BBC for comment.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-sign-executive-order-social-021410776.html
Shut it down! The goyim know!
That’s the only thing this kosher cheetoh wants to control. The more you know…
What a champion of free speech, as long as you don’t call out his massah.
He pays allegiance to the enemy of freedom, nation and the Bill of Rights and he stomps on it every chance his owners tell this little bitch to do so, but some retarded, self-loathing brand whores get caught up in believing they’re in the big “club”.
Well you ain’t, dummy. And if you’re not a chosenite or chosenite billionaire, you don’t stand a f’g chance from EITHER side. Be thankful for the massah’s crumbs from YOUR feast, you slimy little prison loving slaves.
You know chump’s kind believe 2,800 non-humans will be happy to be slaves in the next life, so what’s your hurry?
Trying to “shop early, avoid the rush!”?
Sorry, I think more of myself.
Matter of fact, I think more of humanity in some cases. Others not so much.
This reminds me of an article I read probably a few years ago, that said Facebook would be shut down in 2020. Perhaps this is all leading up to that end.
Good to see people here are so hip to the real BS being put out here. Now that all the plebs are addicted to social media shutting it all down right at this point in time will literally be the end of their world as they know it. If it’s just Faceberg then good riddance but if it’s a whole bunch of social media across the board where everyone shares up-to-the-minute info & news then that’s just blatant massive censorship.
Off topic, but worth it. Heard on the news this evening Trump quoted saying that masks were for social control and slaves wear masks.
This guy does nothing but feel out the temperament of the people and throw his bull out there. It’s all campaigning, nothing more.