President Trump Calls For Section 230 Repeal As Facebook Yanks, Twitter Tags His COVID Posts

Jill Goldsmith
·2 min read
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Virus-infected President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for the repeal of a decades-old Internet freedom rule after Facebook deleted a post of his comparing COVID to the flu and Twitter slapped a warning on it.

Facebook this morning yanked Trump’s post claiming the flu is more deadly than COVID-19. Twitter added a misinformation warning label about the coronavirus for users to see before being able view the tweet and also blocked it from being shared.

The president’s post incorrectly states that “sometimes over 100,000” Americans a year die from the flu. “Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”

Reg 230 absolves Internet companies from responsibility for content than appears on their platforms. It was included in the 1996 Communications Decency Act to help the nascent Internet grow and not be stamped out in the cradle by lawsuits. The rule has come under heavy fire from both the left and right as once tiny companies are now behemoths with outsized influence.

However, as other Twitter users pointed out, Trump himself is a major beneficiary of the rule. Without it, users including the President likely wouldn’t be allowed to post content at will.

The ill POTUS returned from hospital yesterday after three days of experimental drugs and steroids, saluted from the White House and removed his mask. His comments since have disappointed many who hoped for a different takeaway after having contracted a virus that’s killed over 200,000 Americans.

“He is not doing a service to say, ‘Look at me. Look how well I am doing. Don’t be afraid of COVID,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a press briefing Tuesday. “No, be afraid of COVID. It can kill you,” Cuomo said.

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