John,
News alert: leaked documents show that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order that puts the FTC and the FCC, headed by its notoriously corrupt chairman Ajit Pai, in charge of monitoring and policing online speech on social media platforms, online forums, and more.1
Sign the petition to stop the “Censor the Internet” executive order.
TAKE ACTION
If signed and upheld by the courts, this order would essentially be the end of free speech on the Internet.
The proposal would give unelected government bureaucrats the power to revoke free speech protections passed by Congress as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, the key law that allows websites that allow user-generated content—like forums, social media, meme generators and review sites—to exist.2
In practice, this executive order would mean that whichever political party is in power could dictate what speech is allowed on the Internet. If the government doesn’t like the way a private company is moderating content, they can shut their entire website down.
Regardless of your politics, regardless of how you feel about the president, this is a terrible idea that will have the exact opposite impact of its stated purpose of protecting free speech.
If you’re concerned about the power that Big Tech companies like Facebook and Google have to silence and manipulate free speech, we are too. But this executive order won’t fix that problem. It will make it worse, and open a Pandora’s box of government censorship in the process.
Tell the White House: the Internet doesn’t need the government to police the web.
For freedom from censorship,
Evan at Fight for the Future
Footnotes:
1. CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/tech/white-house-social-media-executive-order-fcc-ftc/index.html
2. Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230
Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.
