Washington sources reported that the Trump administration is seeking to initiate steps against social media companies for allegedly stifling free exchange of ideas and hurting competition. Meanwhile the Department of Justice said US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has convened a meeting of the state attorney general’s in this regard.
The department's spokesman Devin O'Malley said "The attorney general has convened a meeting with a number of state attorneys general this month to discuss a growing concern that these companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms". Furthermore the Justice Department has listened to the senate intelligence committee hearing on social media.
Reports added that social media platforms find
themselves caught between some policy makers arguing that they have a moral and
legal obligation to remove legal, but offensive, content, and others who are
calling for these companies to be punished for censoring some of this extreme
political speech, ITIF vice president Daniel Castro claimed. Moreover he said
social media platforms have the right to determine what type of legal speeches
they will permit on their platforms "It is inappropriate for the federal
government to use the threat of law enforcement to limit companies from
exercising this right.
