Judge Unlikely to Block Trump’s Facebook-Twitter Crackdown
- Voting rights lawyer say Trump distracts from ‘core mission’
- U.S. argues dispute amounts to a ‘political disagreement’
U.S. President Donald Trump on Oct. 21.
Photographer: Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Blomberg
A federal judge expressed skepticism about interfering in President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict social platforms after Twitter started fact-checking his posts.
Rock the Vote, Voto Latino and other nonprofits encouraging voter registration asked for a court order protecting the rights of Twitter, Facebook and other online platforms to rebut the president’s unproven claims that, among others, mail-in ballots are fraudulent.
The groups were responding to an executive order Trump issued in May that threatened to strip the platforms of liability protections and -- the groups argue -- muzzle their free-speech rights to comment on user posts.
It’s not clear Trump’s order “does anything” except outline a policy position, U.S. District Judge William Orrick told lawyers for the groups during a hearing Wednesday, adding that it’s not a direct regulation of the platforms. “The injury seems speculative to me, to date, and it doesn’t seem like the platforms are all that cowed by it.”