Trump enacts executive order targeting 'censorship'
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order focused on safeguarding the freedom of speech. Read Full Article at RT.com
TroibNews 
US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order prohibiting government officials from infringing on free speech in the name of combating misinformation.
Trump signed several orders shortly after taking office as the 47th president on Monday.
In the executive order, he criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for “censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms” and exerting pressure on social media companies to “moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the federal government did not approve.”
The document states, “Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the federal government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.”
Trump instructed authorities to “ensure that no federal government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”
Supporters of Trump have long claimed that the government has used its authority to silence opposing viewpoints online, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. In 2020, Twitter and Facebook temporarily restricted the sharing of a New York Post article regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop, which Republicans labeled an act of censorship.
Recent disclosures from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X, indicated that the FBI had requested Twitter to remove accounts allegedly spreading misinformation about the election.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, confirmed earlier this month that officials had pressured his platform to eliminate content considered Covid misinformation, including vaccination-related memes.
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
Trump signed several orders shortly after taking office as the 47th president on Monday.
In the executive order, he criticized his predecessor, Joe Biden, for “censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms” and exerting pressure on social media companies to “moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the federal government did not approve.”
The document states, “Under the guise of combatting ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ the federal government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.”
Trump instructed authorities to “ensure that no federal government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”
Supporters of Trump have long claimed that the government has used its authority to silence opposing viewpoints online, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. In 2020, Twitter and Facebook temporarily restricted the sharing of a New York Post article regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop, which Republicans labeled an act of censorship.
Recent disclosures from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X, indicated that the FBI had requested Twitter to remove accounts allegedly spreading misinformation about the election.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, confirmed earlier this month that officials had pressured his platform to eliminate content considered Covid misinformation, including vaccination-related memes.
Max Fischer contributed to this report for TROIB News
