Just As #DiaperDon Starts Trending, Trump Claims That Twitter Uses 'Fake' Trends, Calls For 'Termination' Of Section 230 (original) (raw)

from the for-national-security? dept

It’s no secret that Donald Trump doesn’t like Section 230. Wait. Actually, let’s back up and try that again: it’s no secret that Donald Trump doesn’t like what he thinks Section 230 is about, which has little-to-no-resemblance to what Section 230 is actually about. However, over the long weekend, things took an even more ridiculous turn than usual. It started on Thanksgiving when the President was signing some legislation and taking some questions from the press. For unclear reasons, the setup where he had to sign things was with a very small desk affixed with the Presidential seal. While this desk has been used before for such things — and Trump has even joked about the size of it, the framing of the shot — the lack of people around him, the wide frame of the shot, the tread over carpet, and just… everything really made it look like the President was sitting at an elementary school desk.

The internet started to have some fun. Actually, lots of fun.

It was not long until #DiaperDonald started trending on Twitter.

And, then, it was not much longer beforel the Commander-in-Chief of the military, and the leader of the United Stated of America decided to throw a tantrum on Twitter and claim that Twitter made up its trending topics (it does not).

That’s the supposed leader of the free world saying:

Twitter is sending out totally false “Trends” that have absolutely nothing to do with what is really trending in the world. They make it up, and only negative “stuff”. Same thing will happen to Twitter as is happening to @FoxNews daytime. Also, big Conservative discrimination!

All of that is, of course, nonsense, but it was followed up just five minutes later with:

That’s him saying:

For purposes of National Security, Section 230 must be immediately terminated!!!

The fact that this comes so close to the tweet whining about #DiaperDon trending suggests that this has literally nothing to do with “national security.” If Trump has learned one thing while he’s in office, it’s that one way that the President can actually get stuff done (such as start trade wars) without the need to get Congress’s approval is to claim “national security” to make it happen. But you can’t just get rid of laws that way. That’s not how any of this works. At all.

Also, um, if Section 230 was terminated, it wouldn’t change the fact that Twitter might show trending topics that are critical of the President. Because that’s protected by the 1st Amendment. You know… part of the Constitution that the President swore to protect and uphold when he was sworn into office?

Of course, if 230 were terminated, meaning that Twitter (and others) might face more annoying and costly lawsuits for the actions of its users, one thing it might be a lot more prone to do is to delete the account of troublemakers spewing conspiracy theories and nonsense on its platform. Such as the soon-to-be-leaving President Donald Trump.

Filed Under: diaper don, donald trump, intermediary liability, national security, section 230, temper tantrum, trending, trends
Companies: twitter