Trump and Duterte both threaten social media platforms that try to question their propaganda

[EleanorR]

And republicans agree or remain mute.

President Trump’s ongoing assault against Twitter may represent the most egregious violation of the First Amendment by a president since Richard M. Nixon went to war against this newspaper almost half a century ago.

This presidential order brought the federal government’s full power — the Justice Department, the Commerce Department, the FCC and the executive office of the president— to bear against Twitter. Unlike other public attacks by the president, which sometimes recede without subsequent action, there is no doubt about the threat being realized.

The Commerce Department has suggested an FCC proceeding. Last week, the Justice Department released the promised draft legislation. And the Office of Management and Budget has been enlisted to reevaluate government advertising on Twitter. The president was joined by nine Republican state attorneys general at a White House event last week who were later encouraged by Attorney General William P. Barr to use their authority to take action against social media platforms.

The specter of such intimidation inevitably leads to prior restraint and self-censorship. These assaults on Twitter are no less worthy of outrage than previous attacks on the traditional news outlets that dominated media years ago —about the time we ourselves first came to grips with the First Amendment’s importance to our way of life. Supporting the First Amendment often requires standing up for controversial people and causes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-assault-on-twitter-is-an-attack-on-the-first-amendment/2020/09/29/033033c2-01a7-11eb-b7ed-141dd88560ea_story.html

In his weekly public address on Monday, Mr. Duterte lashed out at Facebook for taking down fake accounts that supported his policies, making vague threats to shut the platform down in the Philippines.

Mr. Duterte’s complaints are akin to ones made in recent years by President Trump, who has accused social media platforms of anticonservative bias, and whose agencies are now pursuing an antitrust case against Facebook. Despite Mr. Trump’s claims, data tools regularly show that the most-read political content on Facebook in the United States comes from right-wing voices.

While many of the tough-talking Mr. Duterte’s threats come to nothing, Mr. Trump may have provided him with a precedent of sorts for dealing with Facebook.

Mr. Trump’s push to ban the Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat from the United States could embolden other leaders to craft internet blocks of their own, when it is politically expedient to do so. As it plays a major role in the polarized politics of countries around the world, Facebook may well see more threats like Mr. Duterte’s.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/business/rodrigo-duterte-facebook-philippines.html