Trump takes action against Twitter and Co.

The short message service had actually only carried out a fact check on a tweet from the US President. Trump responded with a counterattack and is now targeting social media.

Washington (dpa) - US President Donald Trump accuses online networks such as Twitter of censorship and wants to regulate the platforms with a new regulation. Trump signed the order in the White House.

He wants to have a clause known as Section 230 revised. According to this regulation - part of a law of 1996 - online services are not liable for content published by users such as comments and videos. At the same time, platforms are allowed to act against certain content or users.

Justice Secretary William Barr said the clause should not be abolished, but should be regulated. It was stretched far beyond its original purpose.

Trump said it was about protecting freedom of expression and democracy. Large online platforms would have "uncontrolled power" to censor and restrict human interaction. They tried to suppress views that they did not like. "We cannot allow that to happen," he warned. "This censorship and bias is a threat to freedom." The president said he anticipated lawsuits against his actions, but was determined to do so. "We are fed up."

Trump's push is triggered by an argument with Twitter. The short message service - Trump's preferred platform - had for the first time a tweet from the president subjected to a fact check on Tuesday. In it, Trump claimed that absentee voting encourages electoral fraud. According to the fact check, this is misleading. Trump then accused Twitter of interfering in the US presidential election in November. When he signed the order, he criticized the fact check for "inappropriate" and "political activism" from Twitter.