Donald Trump launched a Twitter war of a different sort Thursday, picking a fight with the online platforms that helped to shape his political career — a feud that, should it escalate, could curtail free speech in the United States and even run afoul of North America's new trade pact.
Angered by Twitter's decision to place fact-check flags on two of his recent tweets, Trump signed an executive order Thursday authorizing a review of Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act, a cornerstone of the modern-day internet that protects online platforms from being held liable for third-party content on their sites.
While the move is being billed by the White House as a full-throated defence of America's precious constitutional right to free expression, and dismissed by others as posturing, experts say changes to the law would encourage companies like Twitter, Google and Facebook to simply hit delete rather than defend the rights of those who post contentious statements online.
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