President Trump took issue with Twitter on Tuesday for not taking down an obviously doctored image of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, dressed in Soviet military garb.
Mr. Trump shared a post on Twitter containing the clearly manipulated image of Mr. McConnell, captioned “Moscow Mitch,” and encouraged him to respond by repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
“Why does Twitter leave phony pictures like this up, but take down Republican/Conservative pictures and statements that are true?” Mr. Trump asked on Twitter.
“Mitch must fight back and repeal Section 230, immediately,” Mr. Trump said in the tweet. “Stop biased Big Tech before they stop you!”
Why does Twitter leave phony pictures like this up, but take down Republican/Conservative pictures and statements that are true? Mitch must fight back and repeal Section 230, immediately. Stop biased Big Tech before they stop you! @HawleyMO @MarshaBlackburn https://t.co/ah0nMeQdM0
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2020
Passed in 1996, Section 230 effectively provides online platforms like Twitter immunity from lawsuits arising from content shared or published by its users.
Mr. Trump has been among Republicans critical of the protections afforded to social media services through Section 230, and he issued an executive order in May asking federal regulators to clarify its scope.
“Section 230 was not intended to allow a handful of companies to grow into titans controlling vital avenues for our national discourse under the guise of promoting open forums for debate, and then to provide those behemoths blanket immunity when they use their power to censor content and silence viewpoints that they dislike,” Mr. Trump said in the executive order.
Twitter did not immediately return a message requesting comment.
Mr. McConnell was dubbed “Moscow Mitch” by his critics last year after opposing several election security bills proposed by Democrats in response to the Russian government interfering the 2016 presidential race.
He previously responded by accusing his critics of practicing “modern-day McCarthyism” by referring to him as “Moscow Mitch.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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