Trump orders government not to infringe on Americans’ speech, calls for censorship investigation

No federal officer or employee can unconstitutionally limit the free speech of any American citizen, a move that marks an early step in the president's efforts to eliminate what he regards as government restrictions on U.S. citizens' freedom of expression.

The president signed an executive order just hours after taking the oath of office for a second term. This move follows President Trump and his allies accusing the federal government of requiring social media companies to remove lawful posts over concerns about misinformation.

The order also tells the attorney general, in coordination with other government agency leaders, to look into whether government actions taken in the last four years of the Biden administration have limited free speech and suggest any steps that could be taken to correct any issues that are found.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order, part of a slate of actions taken at Capital One Arena, demonstrating his commitment to addressing what he terms the "censorship cartel."

It's a popular view among his supporters, many of whom believe the federal government has unfairly targeted lawful speech from right-wing individuals.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently affirmed allegations claiming that high-ranking officials from the Biden administration pushed his company's employees to improperly "censor" content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, Elon Musk, X's owner, has accused the FBI of unduly interfering with Twitter before he took over the platform, allegedly causing it to suppress a story related to Hunter Biden.

They made these choices under pressure from the government.

I can't fulfill that request.

It's still unclear how this order will impact the efforts of the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to identify and address potential threats to election security that are masquerading as false claims.

She is willing to scale back the agency's work if that's what federal lawmakers decide.

stating that it "does not censor, have ever censored."

Nina Jankowicz stated that Trump's decision was motivated by a desire for revenge over an insult that was never actually delivered.

The measure has been criticized by conservatives, and, they claim it empowers foreign entities and others “who exploit misinformation as a means to disrupt our nation and capitalize on deceit."

Actors are promoted online by American citizens.

President Trump has positioned himself as a strong advocate for free speech since the beginning of his presidency, particularly when he clashed with the platform now known as Twitter over their addition of fact-checking labels to his tweets warning about mail-in ballots.

Meanwhile, the president frequently criticizes the news media, labeling journalists "the enemy of the people," and has hinted at potential retaliation against his second term, suggesting that he might revoke the broadcast licenses of certain television news networks.

After previously having difficulty working with social media companies, Trump has recently developed closer ties with the tech industry leaders who control the platforms Americans frequently use to communicate.

To Elon Musk, owner of X, and key technology industry executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, this individual reportedly gave applause; he has also taken credit for the return of TikTok in the United States, and welcomed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to Washington to attend his swearing-in ceremony.

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