CDT Applauds Biden Revocation of Trump’s Unconstitutional Social Media Executive Order

CDT welcomes President Biden’s decision today to revoke the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional Executive Order 13925 regarding social media. Issued by former President Trump nearly a year ago, the Executive Order on “Preventing Online Censorship” was an effort by then-President Trump to chill online speech and interfere with efforts to fight election disinformation. CDT filed a First Amendment lawsuit against this Executive Order in June 2020.

“As we have consistently argued, President Trump’s Executive Order was an attempt to use threats of retaliation to coerce social media companies into allowing disinformation and hateful speech to go unchecked,” said Alexandra Givens, President & CEO of CDT. “The Biden Administration has rightly rejected this deeply flawed approach. We applaud the timely decision by President Biden to fully repeal this unconstitutional order.”

“We saw in the 2020 presidential election how crucial it is for social media companies and other online services to take quick action against voter suppression disinformation and to proactively direct people to accurate information about where and how to vote,” said Givens.

“President Trump’s Order was part of a broader strategy to stop platforms from taking steps to tackle online abuse and preserve the integrity of our elections. We need more action from social media companies in fighting election disinformation, not less,” Givens said.