Trump signs executive order seeking to crack down on social media companies

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order Thursday warning of penalties against social media companies over allegations of bias against conservatives.

As being reported, a leaked draft of the executive order indicates that it seeks to create new regulations for how social media companies are allowed to moderate speech, and it calls for the Federal Trade Commission to keep a list of complaints from users about political bias on social media platforms.

The draft of the executive order reads:

“As President, I have made clear my commitment to free and open debate on the Internet. Such debate is just as important online as it is in our universities, our businesses, our newspapers, and our homes.

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 move comes less than 48-hours after the twitter added fact-checking links to two of President Trump’s tweets pushing false claims about voting by mail.

“We’re here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest dangers,” he told pool reporters before signing the document.

“Social media companies that engage in censoring or any political conduct will not be able to keep their liability shield. That’s a big deal”, said POTUS.

Here is how people react to the latest development:

POTUS recently tweeted against mail-in ballots in the US, calling it an attempt to undermine and rig the upcoming elections, and Twitter was quick to respond and call him out for his lies.

“Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” tweeted the social networking site on its official handle as it tagged two of Trump’s tweets. This indirect yet quite a direct jibe at calling Trump’s tweets misinformation and lie obviously did not go down well with the president.