Trump and Twitter

Social media companies have found a new and somewhat unlikely enemy in US President Donald Trump. Following Twitter fact-checking one of his tweets, President Trump kicked off a process to scrap or weaken a law that has protected internet companies, including Twitter and Facebook, for many years. 

There are diverse reactions to Trump’s actions. Many have slammed it as an extraordinary attempt to regulate social media platforms and restrict democratic rights. But conservatives have also supported the move by saying that social media platforms are moving away from the right to freedom of expression and increasingly restricting space for right wing and conservative views from being exchanged on these platforms. Despite the latter being largely racist and misleading in nature.

The proposed legislation is part of an executive order Trump signed on Thursday afternoon. Trump had attacked Twitter for tagging his tweets about unsubstantiated claims of fraud about mail-in voting with a warning prompting readers to fact-check the posts.

Trump wants to “remove or change” a provision of a law known as Section 230 that shields social media companies from liability for content posted by their users. International media quoted Trump as saying US Attorney General William Barr will begin drafting legislation “immediately” to regulate social media companies.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported the White House’s plan to modify Section 230 based on a copy of a draft executive order that experts said was unlikely to survive legal scrutiny. The final version of the order released on Thursday had no major changes except the proposal for a federal legislation.  Nonetheless it is a milestone in the evolution of how social media platforms are perceived and their stake in democratic exchanges of information and impact on political ecosystems.

Trump has had an undeniable impact on social media and has successfully used Twitter to directly communicate his views with not just constituents but also the rest of the world for years. With more than 80 million followers he was also instrumental in increasing the character count on Twitter and encouraging many other world leaders to take to social media. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for example is another leader who has a loyal Twitter following, though significantly less controversial at least within the context of what is said on a social media platform. 

This formation of politicised ecosystems within social media eventually led to the growth and more recently battles against fake news and misinformation, which also had serious real world consequences of anti-Muslim riots and Brexit. In many ways the link between social media and mainstream media has amplified the spread and impact of fake news and misinformation with wily politicians using this relationship to push their own agendas. Sri Lanka is increasingly getting caught up in this cycle as well and cannot ignore the larger shifts taking place elsewhere in the world. 

Regulating social media companies, even if legislation becomes a reality will have varied impact on developing countries. Social media platforms are vastly imperfect creatures but they have taught the public to be more careful about what information they consume. Twitter’s policy of fact checking an important political leader should hold true for Sri Lanka as well, especially with a crucial election around the corner. Politicians need to stop intentionally and deliberately misleading people. Whether they have a conservative, populist or liberal agenda they have to convince people using facts. The public have to see the nuance in the options before them and decide.