Trump’s digital bill of rights proposal against big tech censorship

President-Elect Donald Trump announces his plans to attempt ending historic big tech censorship for Americans across the board.  

On Nov. 9, President-Elect Donald Trump appeared on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s YouTube Channel to speak directly to the American people on social media about the issue of censorship and free speech on big tech platforms. 

Trump pledged to sign an executive order that would ban any federal department or agency from colluding with businesses, organizations or people to censor, categorize, limit or impede free speech in the United States. 

In the new age of internet censorship, which has particularly targeted the voices of Republican officials and politicians, along with conservative or right-leaning perspectives, Trump now wants Congress to pass a Digital Bill of Rights, which would provide every American with the right to a digital due process.  

This would keep every American and social media user informed about decisions made by big tech companies on their accounts. It would also allow the public to make timely appeals to the removal, shadow-banning or restricted use of their online content or accounts. 

“Social media platforms are increasingly the place Americans go to express their views, debate issues and gather news and information. These platforms are the virtual town square. However, many social media platforms are under the control of people who are hostile to the fundamental American principles of free speech and expression protected in the U.S. Constitution,” Chairman James Comer of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability said in a 2023 hearing, titled “Protecting Speech from Government Interference and Social Media Bias, Part 1: Twitter’s Role in Suppressing the Biden Laptop Story.” 

Trump also pledged to identify and fire federal bureaucrats who engaged in domestic censorship either directly or indirectly and ban federal funding from being used to label the domestic free speech of everyday Americans as misinformation or disinformation. 

The same Committee “emphasized that [former] Twitter executives did not attempt to verify whether the Hunter Biden laptop materials were authentic before censoring the New York Post story,” in October of 2020, just ahead of the presidential election, according to a Press Release.  

Since then, President Biden has pardoned his son of any and all crimes committed within an 11-year period, including those related to the events of this case.  

Media censorship also stretches to the Healthcare industry, as during the hearing Representative Nancy Mace mentioned that the former Twitter executives were hostile toward the voices of medical experts in the field during the COVID pandemic, referencing key examples of the evidence on-screen. 

The files containing proof of online censorship for certain stories, posts or accounts weren’t deleted before CEO Elon Musk acquired the company. 

The hearing revealed that prior to Elon Musk’s takeover, big tech autocrats shadow-banned, locked, banned and categorized into search and trend backlists accounts that posted opinions that the autocrats deemed unacceptable and contrary to mainstream views at the time. This was despite Twitter’s former CEO, Jack Dorsey, testifying to Congress that the company didn’t limit the visibility of certain accounts or tweets, which is known to be false because of Musk, who released the files that proved otherwise, according to the Committee’s findings. 

As television ratings continue to fall, more Americans obtain their information from other means, including conducting independent research into political discussions and debates. In addition, more people spend their time on non-traditional news outlets like podcasts or watching filmed court or committee hearings and engaging in debates on platforms that trend more neutral.  

However, these platforms are not without some form of censorship, even if they may appear to be, except for X, where Musk has pledged for all opinions to be heard. In the past, he has stated that he doesn’t censor the voices of anyone, including left-leaning individuals or Democrats. 

“I think we should embrace a diversity of views, and we should have reasonable arguments and we should have debates. That’s the essence of free speech is that ideas survive when they’re, you know, when they’re competing ideas in the marketplace of ideas,” Musk said during a Trump rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Oct. 20 reposted on X by the account ElonClipsX. 

Trump also pledged to order the Department of Justice during his next term to investigate all parties involved in new online censorship and to prosecute all crimes identified. 

“These include possible violations of federal civil rights law, campaign finance laws, federal election law, securities law, antitrust laws, the Hatch Act and a host of other potential criminal civil regulatory and constitutional offenses,” Trump said. 

Trump is calling for a revisal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which states that it is policy for the U.S. to promote the continued development of the internet, computer services and other interactive media and to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market of the internet, unfettered by federal and state regulation. 

Section 230 provides immunity to online platforms from civil liability based on third-party content and for the removal of content, while also incentivizing platforms to remove content deemed harmful to children, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General. 

By way of a bill from the U.S. Congress, Trump wants to revise Section 230 to eliminate censorship business, stating that platforms should only receive protection under Section 230 if they meet high standards of neutrality, fairness and transparency, as well as non-discrimination. In addition, he added that the platforms should be required to increase their efforts to take down exploitative content involving children and other unlawful content or content that promotes terrorism, according to Trump. 

Under Section 230, it is a policy that the U.S. should encourage the development of technologies to maximize user control over what information is received and to remove disincentives for the development and implementation of technology that allows parents to restrict a child’s access to online material. It also includes a policy that states that the U.S. must “ensure vigorous enforcement of federal criminal laws to deter and punish trafficking in obscenity, stalking and harassment by means of a computer.” 

“In addition, all adults over the age of 18 should have the right to opt out of content moderation and curation entirely, and receive an un-manipulated stream of information if they so choose,” Trump said. 

Over time, the internet has shown that platforms with algorithms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and other media influence behavior across political and sociopolitical issues. 

“We should also enact new laws laying out clear criminal penalties for federal bureaucrats who partner with private entities to do an end run around the Constitution and deprive Americans of their First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment Rights. In other words, deprive them of their vote,” Trump said. 

This is in response to the Committee’s findings referenced earlier, which revealed that former Twitter employees were in contact with the Biden campaign team and the FBI during October of 2020, showing emails on screen detailing the extent of the interactions. 

In addition, government officials should need a court order to take down online content through social media platforms, not through information requests like what was being sent to Twitter by the FBI, according to Trump. 

Furthermore, Trump said he will attempt to end federal government funding to nonprofits and academic programs that have funded or engaged in the censorship of online content. In the video, he mentioned that any Universities that are found to have engaged in blacklisting, flagging and possible election interferences should lose federal research dollars and student loan support for a period of five years or more. 

“By restoring free speech we will begin to reclaim our democracy and save our nation,” Trump said. 

The First Amendment is a fundamental right and is part of the history of America, as the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” according to Congress. 

In the digital age of media censorship, the impact of a digital bill of rights on private media corporations remains to be seen. For many Americans, access to a truly free digital market with the ability to share opinions across the board has been long awaited. 

The Ledger reached out to three professors in the School of Law at UW Seattle and none were willing to comment on the topic.