Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said he was abandoning his plan to help President Trump impose a crackdown on social media platforms and was slightly critical of Trump’s incitement of a mob that stormed the US Capitol in a failed attempt to reverse the election results.
In October, Pai supported Trump’s proposal to block or change the legal protection of Article 230 on social media sites that post content by users. At the time, Pai said he would open an FCC rule-making process to declare that companies like Twitter and Facebook do not have “special immunity” for their content moderation decisions. But Pai has not moved the proposal further since Trump’s election loss and has now said in an interview that he will not finalize the plan.
‘The status is that I do not intend to proceed with the notification of proposed regulation [to reinterpret Section 230] at the FCC, “Pai said in an interview published by Protocol yesterday.” The reason is partly because, simply because of the outcome of the election, there is not enough time to complete the necessary administrative steps to resolve the rule formation. . Given the reality, I do not believe it is appropriate to continue. “Shortly after Trump’s election loss, Pai announced that he would leave the inauguration day of the FCC on January 20, election president Joe Biden.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is a U.S. law that states that providers and users of interactive computer services cannot be held liable for any action taken voluntarily in good faith to gain access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers , to limit. obscene, obscene, fickle, dirty, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise offensive, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected. “Before renouncing his plan, Pai said that social media companies ‘do not have a right to first amendment on a special immunity denied to other media, such as newspapers and broadcasters’, but both conservatives and liberal opponents of his plan said the FCC does not have constitutional authority to reinterpret the law.
Pai: a terrible mistake was to make a reversal of elections
On Wednesday this week, as Congress convened to confirm Biden’s election victory, the American Capitol was stormed by a mob incited by Trump’s false allegations that the election had been stolen from him. Trump used social media to spread his unfounded claims, and his mail privileges were suspended by Facebook and Instagram, while Twitter removed several of these offensive tweets. Trump wanted the FCC to crack down on social media companies to stop Facebook and Twitter from moderating its posts.
Protocol reporter Emily Birnbaum asked Pai if he thought Trump “bears any responsibility” for the “violence and chaos” [that] erupt[ed] on Capitol Hill, immortalized in his name by Trump supporters. “Pai did not mention Trump in his response, but said it was a ‘mistake’ to suggest that the election results could change:
The scenes we saw yesterday were outrageous and extremely disappointing to those who cherish American democracy, the hallmark of which is the peaceful transition of power. To answer your question, I think it was a terrible mistake to suggest that the outcome of the election, and especially the process that unfolded in the Senate and House yesterday, could change at all. It was a terrible mistake and one that in my opinion should in no way be conceded.
Birnbaum urged Pai on a more direct condemnation of Trump and asked, “Do you think the president’s indulgence in the theories was partly responsible for what happened?” Pai’s answer to this question focused on the rioters without mentioning Trump:
I have not studied all the statements made and the actions taken. I watched it as closely as possible on television. But all I would say, given the circumstances we saw – armed guards defending the Senate, people holding the Confederate flags in the seat of the United States government – it was completely unacceptable, completely outrageous. We must be governed by the rule of law, not by the rule of the people. Law and order must be restored and democracy must be respected. These are the expectations of every American citizen. This is what distinguishes democracy from other governments around the world. I believe it to my core, regardless of political affiliation or circumstances.
Pai is still worried about moderation on social media
Pai said he is still concerned about decisions on social moderation and that he is open to new regulations. ‘What I will say is what I said [in] November 2017, long before it was a dominant tension in the dominant discourse: social media is increasingly defining the public square in terms of political speech, “Pai told Protocol.” We need more transparency and need to understand how some of these decisions are made, how certain content is allowed on these platforms or not. “Elected officials need to consider the lack of transparency as they think about whether and how to regulate social media businesses,” Pai said.
Despite that, Pai did not criticize Facebook and Twitter for restricting Trump this week. Asked if he “agrees”[s] With the decision of Facebook and Twitter to pull the president off social media, “Pai replied,” Given the circumstances we saw yesterday, I’m not going to guess the decisions. “
Although Democrats on the FCC opposed Pai’s Article 230 fight, saying the commission should not become Trump’s ‘speech police’, Biden asked a year ago to repeal Article 230’s statement.
Pai expects Congress to take action. “There is now a dual consensus among elected officials that the law should change,” he said. “It is clear that the President believes that it should be revoked. Elected President Biden has repeatedly campaigned for its revocation, but there also seems to be consensus that it should be reviewed in some way or another. be reformed. ” Pai said it was a very complicated issue and ‘I will personally think about it more carefully in terms of the immunity provision’, but said the decision would rest with Biden’s Congress and government.