Major Internet companies urge FCC not to impose new social media regulations

Shafaq News / group representing major internet companies including Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Wednesday urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject a Trump administration bid to narrow the ability of social media companies to remove objectionable content.

The Internet Association said in a filing that the Trump administration petition filed in August seeking new rules “is misguided, lacks grounding in law, and poses serious public policy concerns.” It said new FCC rules could result in a loss of legal protections for removing “fraudulent schemes, scams, dangerous content promoting suicide or eating disorders to teens, and a wide range of other types of ‘otherwise objectionable’ content.”

President Donald Trump directed the Commerce Department to file the petition after Twitter Inc in May warned readers to fact-check his posts about unsubstantiated claims of fraud in mail-in voting.

Facebook , Twitter and Google’s YouTube earlier pulled a post by Trump for violating their COVID-19 misinformation policies, which angered Trump.