Tech Group Files Lawsuit Against President's Social-Media Executive Order
03 June 2020 - 1:18AM
Dow Jones News
By John D. McKinnon
WASHINGTON -- A group that promotes online rights filed a
lawsuit challenging President Trump's executive order targeting
social-media companies, contending it violates First Amendment
rights of the firms and their users.
The suit, filed by the Center for Democracy and Technology on
Tuesday in federal district court in Washington, D.C., seeks to
have the order invalidated.
Supported by foundations, corporations and individuals, the
group says last week's order "seeks to curtail and chill the
constitutionally protected speech of all online platforms and
individuals."
The suit says the order also was "plainly retaliatory" against
Twitter Inc.
Mr. Trump signed the executive order on Thursday after Twitter
two days earlier had moved for the first time to apply a
fact-checking notice to his tweets on the subject of voter
fraud.
The White House referred questions to the Justice Department,
which declined to comment.
Legal challenges to the executive order had been expected.
Some legal experts expect further lawsuits, particularly if
federal agencies begin to implement the president's order.
But even some critics of Mr. Trump said privately last week that
the order -- which administration lawyers worked on for months --
was carefully crafted and could prove hard to block.
In essence, the order urges federal agencies to adopt new rules
and policies that could limit the legal protections Washington
established for online platforms in the 1990s. Those protections
were created by Congress in Section 230 of the 1996 Communications
Decency Act, which shields the platforms from liability for actions
of their users, and gives them wide latitude to police their
sites.
The CDT lawsuit focuses instead on the broader First Amendment
impacts of the order. It contends the new executive order violates
the free-speech rights of the companies, by improperly curbing
their ability to suspend accounts or delete posts.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday as he prepared to sign
the order, Mr. Trump accused Twitter of acting as an editor "with a
viewpoint" and described the platform's fact-check of his tweets as
"political activism."
"We're here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest
dangers, " the president said.
Twitter last week described the executive order as "a
reactionary and politicized approach to a landmark law." It said
Section 230 protects innovation and freedom of expression, and that
"attempts to unilaterally erode it threaten the future of online
speech and internet freedoms."
Other tech firms, such as Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s
Google, criticized the order as well.
CDT receives much of its funding from tech-related sources, and
its board and advisory council include several people with ties to
social-media firms.
The group said it endeavors to maintain a diverse base of
support, and that its financial backers "have no influence or
control over CDT's projects or priorities."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 02, 2020 20:03 ET (00:03 GMT)
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