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"Online censorship goes far beyond the issue of free speech,
it’s also one of protecting consumers and ensuring they are
informed of their rights and resources to fight back under the
law," White House spokesman Judd Deere said. "State attorneys
general are on the front lines of this issue and President Trump
wants to hear their perspectives."
A person briefed on the matter said Trump is expected to meet
with the state attorneys general of Texas, Arizona, Utah,
Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Missouri.
The planned meeting was reported earlier by the Washington Post.
In May, Trump signed an executive order that seeks new
regulatory oversight of tech firms' content moderation decisions
and backed legislation to scrap or weaken the law, Section 230.
He directed the Commerce Department to file the petition asking
the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to limit protections
under Section 230 after Twitter Inc warned readers in May to
fact-check his posts about unsubstantiated claims of fraud in
mail-in voting.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai opened the petition to a 45-day public
comment.
Earlier this month, the Republican state attorneys general
of Texas, Louisiana, Indiana and Missouri backed Trump’s push,
arguing social media platforms cannot be truly free “unless the
participants understand the rules of the forum, and competition
is able to provide alternatives when speech restrictions go too
far.”
A group representing major internet companies including Facebook
Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google urged the FCC to
reject the petition, calling it "misguided, lacks grounding in
law, and poses serious public policy concerns."
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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