Trump Targets SNS Self-Censorship... Big Tech Faces Deep Dilemma
Trump Appoints Anti-Censorship Advocate to Social Media Regulatory Authority
Europe Imposes Fines for Neglecting Harmful Content
As the inauguration of the Donald Trump administration in the United States approaches, social networking service (SNS) companies are facing a "global tug-of-war" over freedom of expression, the New York Times (NYT) reported on the 30th (local time). Unlike Europe, which is cracking down on SNS companies that neglect harmful content, Trump, the president-elect, has a policy stance that conflicts with this, advocating for the abolition of online censorship.
Trump, who is set to take office next month, has pledged to eliminate the legal protections that SNS platforms receive during the election period and restore freedom of expression online. Having experienced account suspensions on platforms like Twitter and Facebook for allegedly inciting the January 6 Capitol riot, he claims that progressive-leaning SNS companies censor content from the conservative camp.
Brendan Carr, nominated as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Andrew Ferguson, nominated as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), are figures who support Trump’s policy of banning SNS censorship. Currently, SNS companies in the U.S. are not legally responsible for content posted on their platforms under the Communications Decency Act, but Commissioner Carr plans to weaken this immunity clause so that SNS companies bear legal responsibility for censorship. Commissioner Ferguson has also announced plans to identify and punish companies that withdrew advertising from X (formerly Twitter) due to its failure to properly manage harmful content.
The problem is that the U.S. policy stance on freedom of expression is the exact opposite of Europe’s. The NYT evaluated that "Trump vows to suppress the SNS ‘censorship cartel,’ but unrestricted free speech in Europe is seen as a potential threat to democracy," placing SNS companies caught between conflicting regulations from two major markets.
The European Union (EU) enacted the Digital Services Act in 2022, which imposes fines of up to 6% of annual revenue if companies fail to promptly remove illegal content. Earlier, in July, the EU provisionally concluded that X violated the Digital Services Act by failing to prevent the spread of illegal content and misinformation. In the UK, following far-right anti-immigration riots triggered by fake news this summer, individuals who incited violence on SNS were detained. In France, Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, was arrested for allegedly neglecting the distribution of pornography and drug trafficking on the platform.
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Kate Klonick, Assistant Professor of Property and Internet Law at St. John's University School of Law, diagnosed that "when conflicting laws arise in global democratic countries, consumers are the ones who suffer," warning that SNS users may experience a fragmented internet where they see different content depending on the laws of their country of residence.
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