Trump asks regulators to examine social media, free speech: White House

The Trump administration has asked US federal regulators to determine whether current internet laws protect social media companies from being sued for altering or otherwise censoring free speech, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.

"On Monday, the Department of Commerce, as directed by President Donald J Trump's executive order on preventing online censorship, filed a petition to clarify the scope of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. The petition requests the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clarify that Section 230 does not permit social media companies that alter or editorialise users' speech to escape civil liability," the statement said.

The move comes after President Trump repeatedly accused social media and internet firms of unfairly censoring conservative views. He issued his executive order on May 28, after Twitter began placing warning labels on some of his tweets.