To that end, Republican U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order that he said was aimed at "restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship."
WHY IT MATTERS
Trump and his Republican allies had accused the administration of Democratic former President Joe Biden of encouraging suppression of free speech on online platforms.
Democrats say they urged tech platforms to combat misinformation and disinformation online, particularly on issues like vaccines and elections, while some rights experts have also raised concerns about the spread of online hate speech, particularly against minority groups.
KEY QUOTES
"Over the past 4 years, the last administration has walked on free speech rights by suppressing Americans' ability to speak on digital platforms by regularly exerting severe coercive force on third parties, including social media companies, to edit, de-platform or otherwise stifle speech that was not approved of by the Federal Government," according to a White House statement Monday.
"Under the guise of combatting 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' and 'malinformation,' the Federal Government infringed the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner advancing the Government's preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society," the White House added.
CONTEXT
Trump, who assumed office on Monday, had his own experience with social media censorship after the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, after his loss in the 2020 election to Biden.
Billionaire Elon Musk, an ally of Trump, has acquired X, formerly Twitter, where the account of Trump was reinstated and content moderation relaxed after Musk's acquisition.
Within recent weeks, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg met Trump and the social media company has scrapped its U.S. fact-checking program and reduced curbs on discussions around contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity.
The U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protects free speech and applies to government policies.
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