Trump signs executive order to regulate social media sites amid Twitter row

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at increasing the ability of the government to regulate social media platforms. Speaking from the Oval Office ahead of signing the order, Trump said that the move was to "defend free speech from one of the gravest dangers it has faced in American history".

The order comes two days after Twitter labelled two of Trump's tweets as potentially misleading and marks a dramatic escalation by Trump in his war with tech companies as they struggle with the growing problem of misinformation on social media.

On Thursday, Trump acknowledged that legal challenges to the order are on the horizon, saying he was "sure they will be doing a lawsuit".

Trump's actions seek to blunt Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which immunises websites from legal liability for the comments of their users. According to the President, Twitter's fact checks amount to political activism and social media companies should not be shielded from lawsuits for what is posted on their platforms.

The order directs an agency within the Commerce Department to file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clarify the scope of Section 230, a proposition that has already drawn rebukes from Democratic members of the commission. Another section of the order would encourage federal agencies to review their spending on social media advertising.

"This will be a Big Day for Social Media and FAIRNESS!" Trump tweeted on Thursday morning. Trump railed on Twitter that tech giants "silence conservative voices." "We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen."

According to experts, signing the executive order is nothing more than a Trump-led distraction for the feeblest of fact checks by Twitter which took the form of a hyperlink, that tagged onto exactly two of Trump's tweets.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey shared in public domain an updated version of the company's civic integrity policy. It says: "You may not use Twitter's services for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes. This includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process."

Meanwhile, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg took pains to distance his company from Twitter and its fight with Trump. "We have a different policy I think than Twitter on this," Zuckerberg told Fox News. 

Both sites take down content that violates their terms of service, but Facebook's approach, he said, has "distinguished us from some of the other tech companies in terms of being stronger on free expression and giving people a voice." While Facebook does apply labels to misleading posts, it exempts from review posts by politicians, a decision that some lawmakers and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden say helps lies to flourish online.