Trump's Commerce Department Asks FCC To Narrow Liability Protections For Social Media Companies

The Commerce Department on Monday petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to review liability protections for tech companies, after President Trump signed an executive order in May targeting alleged political bias on social media platforms. The petition asks the FCC to reinterpret Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects social media platforms from liability for their users’ posts.

“Unfortunately, large online platforms appear to engage in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse,” the petition says. “The FCC should determine how Section 230 can best serve its goals of promoting internet diversity and a free flow of ideas, as well as holding dominant platforms accountable for their editorial decisions, in new market conditions and technologies that have emerged since the 1990s.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, urged the commission to swiftly reject the petition.

“The FCC shouldn’t take this bait. While social media can be frustrating, turning this agency into the President’s speech police is not the answer,” Rosenworcel said in a written statement.

Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr believes the “petition provides an opportunity to bring much-needed clarity to the statutory text.”

President Trump has claimed that social media platforms such as Twitter have an anti-conservative bias. He has also grown frustrated after several of his tweets were given fact-check labels.

On Monday, Trump railed against Twitter’s “trending” section, calling it "really ridiculous, illegal, and, of course, very unfair!"

"So disgusting to watch Twitter’s so-called 'Trending', where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one," Trump tweeted. "They look for anything they can find, make it as bad as possible, and blow it up, trying to make it trend."