Trump Will Announce An Executive Order Against Social Media Sites After Twitter Fact-Checks Two Of His Misleading Tweets

Donald Trump is taking action just days after Twitter applied a fact-check to two of his tweets, for including “misleading information.” This includes one tweet that falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud. Trump threatened to take federal action against the site, and now he is making good on his threat with the announcement of an executive order on Thursday aiming social media sites.

The draft executive order being prepared by the Trump administration is looking to decrease the power of large social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook. Trump is attempting to reinterpret the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects websites and tech companies that curate and moderate their own platforms from lawsuits, according to CNN. The order is not an open and shut case, however, as it will undergo many legal and constitutional examinations before taking effect.

The executive order states that the protections in place rest on the determination that tech platforms are operating in “good faith,” but that thus far, social media companies have not done so.

“In a country that has long cherished the freedom of expression, we cannot allow a limited number of online platforms to hand-pick the speech that Americans may access and convey online,” the order states. “This practice is fundamentally un-American and anti-democratic. When large, powerful social media companies censor opinions with which they disagree, they exercise a dangerous power.”

The order also accuses social media platforms of “invoking inconsistent, irrational, and groundless justifications to censor or otherwise punish Americans’ speech here at home.” It goes on to make more serious accusations, which include claims that Google is helping the Chinese government spy on its citizens, accuses Twitter of spreading Chinese propaganda, and claims that Facebook is profiting from Chinese advertising.

This tantrum-like response from the typically irrational commander-in-chief comes as social media platforms fight to slow the spread of misinformation on their sites, which Trump has continuously spread.

Facebook, Google, and Twitter have yet to respond to this latest order.