'The fact that it took Twitter until Tuesday to act — and that it used the blandest possible language in flagging Trump’s tweets — shows how well conservatives have worked the refs.' (via latimesopinion)
More important, though, was the timing. Twitter has ignored Trump’s line-crossing for so long that any move it makes now invites an accusation that it’s trying to influence voters. Had it taken action the first time the president abused its platform, it would have set a precedent that no one was above Twitter rules. By waiting until now, it has delivered exactly the opposite message.
Some readers might argue that the public has an interest in hearing whatever the president wants to say, on any platform. That’s nonsense. The president has a unique platform of his own that he can use at any hour of any day. When he ventures onto Twitter, Facebook or any other nongovernmental space, he is leveraging someone else’s resources to broadcast his thoughts. He has no entitlement to do so — no one does.
Under a provision of federal communications law known as Section 230, Twitter has a clear right to enforce its terms of service against any user who violates them. And given that it’s a private company,and not an arm of government, there are no 1st Amendment issues in play. In fact, Twitter has its own 1st Amendment speech right to mark offending tweets as it sees fit.
But conservatives have campaigned steadily in recent years to turn those rights into liabilities, arguing that Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other online powerhouses have been biased against their tribe. Never mind that thehave been extremists like Alex Jones of Infowars . The point is to play the victim card over and over, so that Twitter and company will hesitate to act even against obviously improper posts.
So what might Trump’s “big action” be? He can’t simply create a new watchdog to oversee the tech giants because, again, they are protected by Section 230. But there may be a legislative play; some Republicans are trying to weaken or even undo that shield because they believe it protects too much bad behavior. That’s why Congress
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