Fact check: Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter prompted the White House to target Section 230

As the news that Elon Musk has bought Twitter continues to make US and international media headlines, it is also fueling some unverified and potentially misleading narratives.

the claim

Shortly after the purchase was announced, White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a statement that did not address the deal directly, but said President Joe Biden “has long spoken about his concerns about power of social media platforms, including Twitter and others. to spread misinformation.”

Many conservative and libertarian users hailed the purchase of the platform by Musk, a staunch supporter of the First Amendment, as a victory for free speech and immediately pounced on the White House statement as a turn toward censorship.

“Elon Musk buys Twitter and Psaki immediately announces that the White House is already considering reforming section 230. Are they paying attention yet? 🤷🏾‍♀️,” Florida Republican Congressional candidate Lavern Spicer tweeted.

That phrase was repeated in dozens of other tweets.

“Look how no one gave a shit about Section 230 until Musk bought Twitter. You can’t make this up,” wrote another Twitter user.

“Jen Psaki said yesterday that Biden supports reforming Section 230 and enacting antitrust reforms. @elonmusk’s Twitter buyout is going to expose these ‘progressives’ for who they are. You will see an unprecedented attack on our First Amendment.” They… You’re panicking!” Republican congressional candidate Errol Webber wrote.

A post on the r/Conservative subReddit similarly linked the Twitter deal to the White House announcement which it says reflects attempts to implement “the globalist agenda” through censorship.

The facts

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Actpassed in 1996, says that an “interactive computer service” cannot be treated as the publisher or speaker of third-party content, thereby protecting publishers from lawsuits directed at user-generated content (with a few exceptions including violations of federal criminal laws).

The issue of reforming Section 230 recently garnered some bipartisan support in Congress, but remains controversial, with some saying the law is outdated and others calling it a key pillar of free speech online.

Critics have argued that continuing to grant self-moderation rights to platforms that have grown exponentially since the 1990s and now give hundreds of millions of users a voice is irresponsible, while its defenders say that any attempt to remove or change it amounts to overreaching the government. .

But while this debate over a controversial and complex issue is not likely to end any time soon, claims that Biden targeted Section 230 because of Musk’s Twitter buyout are not supported by evidence.

While Psaki made a statement alluding to Twitter, in response to a reporter’s question, it does not signify any tangible change in Biden’s own or the White House’s position on the issue.

Brittany Caplin, White House deputy press secretary, said news week in an email that is not a new position at all, it has been a long-standing position of the president.

“Even on the campaign trail, then-candidate Biden said he would seek to reform Section 230,” Caplin wrote. “Jen Psaki also brought this up in briefings last year. We didn’t announce anything new yesterday, Jen just reaffirmed our position on Section 230.”

In fact, there are several earlier statements in the public domain that confirm Caplin’s claim.

“I have been of the opinion that we should not only be concerned about the concentration of power, but also about the lack of privacy and they [social media platforms] be exempt, that he’s not exempt,” Joe Biden said in The New York Times interview in January 2020.

“[The Times] you can’t write something you know to be false and be exempt from being sued. But he can. The idea that it’s a technology company is that Section 230 should be repealed, immediately it should be repealed, number one. For Zuckerberg and other platforms.”

Biden’s desire to see Section 230 reformed was affirmed at a White House press conference on October 6, 2021.

Psaki said at the time: “Well, the president has said for a long time … that technology platforms should be held accountable for the damage they cause. And he has been a strong advocate for fundamental reforms to achieve that goal. This includes Section 230 reforms”.

It was reiterated in another press conference a month later, on November 19.

Furthermore, this is one of the few positions shared (albeit for different reasons) by President Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.

Then-President Trump issued an executive order targeting Section 230 and social media companies in May 2020, as his feud with Twitter grew.

The order, intended to bypass Congress and the courts, required regulators to redefine Section 230 more strictly and even urged agencies to collect complaints of political bias that could warrant a crackdown on legal protections.

“Section 230 was not intended to allow a handful of corporations to become titans controlling vital avenues for our national discourse under the guise of promoting open forums for debate, and then giving those giants blanket immunity when they use their power.” to censor.” Trump said in the executive order.

Notably, Biden reversed the executive order upon his election, without elaborating on why. But Psaki said in one of the recent statements that the administration was looking at a series of reforms that would include “privacy and antitrust reforms as well as more transparency.”

“That should also be on the table. And he looks forward to working with Congress on these bipartisan issues,” the White House statement said.

failure

False.

The claim that the White House suddenly started targeting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act due to concerns about Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter is misleading. While Jen Psaki did raise the issue in response to a question from a member of the press, Joe Biden’s position on the need to reform the law has remained consistent since before he was elected. And Donald Trump, the previous occupant of the White House, largely shared that view.

NEWSWEEK FACT CHECK