Trump To Sign Executive Order On Social Media Today, Day After Twitter Spat

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order against social media companies on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany informed reporters aboard the Air Force One on Wednesday, as reported by Politico.

Trump Could Target Social Media Immunity

McEnany didn't elaborate on what the said executive order will entail. According to Politico, it is likely to target Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 24-year old law that grants digital media companies immunity against lawsuits arising from content posted by third-party users on their platforms.

The move comes following the president's outburst against Twitter Inc. TWTR as the social media company added a fact-check label on one of his tweets that advocated misinformation about election procedure.

"Big Tech is doing everything in their very considerable power to CENSOR in advance of the 2020 Election," Trump tweeted, following McEnany's comments.
"If that happens, we no longer have our freedom. I will never let it happen! They tried hard in 2016, and lost. Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!"

Zuckerberg Says Tit For Tat Not The ‘Right Reflex'

Facebook Inc. FB Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, who espouses different views to Twitter on fact-checking political news, told Fox News that "private companies shouldn't be the arbiter of truth."

"I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online," Zuckerberg told Fox News late Wednesday. "Private companies probably shouldn't be, especially these platform companies, shouldn't be in the position of doing that."
The Facebook CEO added that Trump's censorship of social media in response to Twitter censoring him "doesn't exactly strike" him "as the right reflex there."

Price Action

Twitter shares closed nearly 2.8% lower at $33.07 on Wednesday and dropped another 2.8% in the after-hours at $32.15.

Facebook closed 1.3% lower at $229.14 the same day and traded further 0.9% lower at $227.15 in the after-hours.