Document Type

Blog Post

Publication Date

10-2-2020

Abstract

The year 2020 has brought times of physical isolation and the world has turned to the Internet as a bridge to normalcy. It is not uncommon for a person to wake up and grab his or her phone and consult it (rather than a newspaper) to gather news, browse through friends’ video “stories” shared overnight, check what is “trending” via Twitter, or even stream a popular video on YouTube. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet is more important than ever before and its key to success is its immediacy. On May 26, 2020, without any supporting evidence, President Trump tweeted to the effect that the institution of “Mail-In Ballots” would be nothing less than “substantially fraudulent.” Twitter then placed a “fact check” notation on the President’s tweets suggesting that he had been sharing misinformation. Twitter neither removed nor altered his tweet, with the exception of adding the mark. Just two days later, on May 28, 2020, the President retaliated by signing into action the EOPOC. The purpose of the order is to remove effectively the protections to which online platforms and/or providers are entitled by way of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

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