Trump may punish Google, Facebook, and Twitter for political bias

Trump had threatened to "close down" social media platforms on Wednesday.

What you need to know

• President Donald Trump is likely to sign an executive order against social media companies on Thursday.
• The order could allow federal regulators to apply constraints to social media companies such as Twitter, Google and Facebook for "political bias."
• For a long time, Trump has alleged that major social media companies are biased against conservatives.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that could significantly limit the immunity given to social media and other online platforms by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. As per a report from Washington Post, the order will enable federal regulators to hold social media companies responsible for the comments, videos, and other content posted on their platforms by users.

Once the order is signed by the President and the scope of the law protecting social media companies is reconsidered, the Federal Trade Commission could probe the content-moderation policies of the companies to ensure that they are "keeping with their pledges of neutrality." Federal agencies may also be required to review their social media advertising spending.

The move comes just two days after one of Trump's tweets was labeled as "potentially misleading" by Twitter and linked to a curated fact-check page with news articles that debunked the President's claims. In a later tweet, Trump threatened to strongly regulate or close down social media platforms that try to "silence" voices of conservatives.

Despite being one of the most influential social media users in the world, Trump has been claiming for a long time that tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have a bias against conservatives. Last year, Trump accused Google of "manipulating" millions of votes during the 2016 election.

The Justice Department is likely to file antitrust charges against Google