Both houses of Congress passed the Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 last week. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump reiterated that the bill’s version favored the Chinese Communist Party and that he would veto it. He also said the bill would include provisions to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
“I will veto the National Defense (Authorization) Bill,” Trump tweeted on Thursday. “It will make the Chinese (Communist Party) very unhappy. They [the Communist Party] like it [the current version of the NDAA].”
The president went on to write: “Section 230 must be terminated to protect our nation’s historic sites and allow for the withdrawal of [U.S.] troops from remote, very poor lands. Thank you very much!”
The U.S. Senate on Friday voted 84-13 to pass the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2021, and the House of Representatives earlier voted 335-78 to pass the bill, which now goes to the White House. The current version of the bill does not include repealing Section 230.
Section 230 gives big tech companies a safe haven and endangers national security
On Sunday, Trump tweeted: “The biggest winner of our new defense bill is China! I will veto it!”
Trump had previously tweeted that he would veto the National Defense Authorization Act if it did not repeal Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act. Trump said Section 230, which gives large technology companies the leeway to evade responsibility, poses a serious threat to national security and electoral integrity and that the Country will never be safe if it is allowed to exist.
On Thursday, Trump also tweeted an article published in Dailycaller, in which Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said unregulated social media companies and unverified mail-in ballots posed a dual threat to conservatism.
Trump and some members of Congress have said existing U.S. laws give tech companies privileged access to U.S. politicians while giving the communist Party, Iran and others the green light to anti-U.S. propaganda.
It is well known that the Communist Party’s propaganda about America has long been part of its extra-curricular campaign.
Rubio criticized Twitter for allowing Zhao Lijian to post fake pictures disparaging Australia while censoring Trump’s tweets
As a result of the election fraud controversy this year, Google, twitter and facebook, under the protection of article 230, have continued to delete and suppress comments suggesting election fraud, fake ballots, etc., including trump’s posts, which have been hidden or labeled for many times.
Trump has accused Twitter and other social media outlets of blocking the accounts of conservative Republican lawmakers in an attempt to suppress their disclosures. “Only communist countries do that,” he said.
On Dec. 1, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida blasted Twitter for allowing Communist Party officials to spread false information.
“Twitter has spent more than 36 hours investigating and tagging a tweet by Zhao Lijian, deputy director general of China’s Foreign Ministry, which contained a tampered image that could incitedeadly violence,” Rubio said on Twitter. “They did nothing, but Trump’s tweet was flagged within minutes.”
Rubio also sent a letter to Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive. “It is incredible that Twitter was unaware of the image, which falsely depicts an Australian soldier holding a bloody knife to the throat of an Afghan toddler, and which prime Minister Morrison has also demanded to be taken down,” the letter said.
“Twitter seems to deliberately decided not to delete the tweets, even not issued a warning label”, rubio continued, “we know that your company has the ability to act quickly, because during the general election, your company of American celebrities often tweets warning labels, sometimes in tweets sent out a few minutes after the warning labels.”
Trump’s executive order limits the Chinese Communist Party’s false propaganda on U.S. social media
On May 28, Trump signed the Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship, which, in addition to Preventing social media companies from restricting people’s freedom of expression through Censorship, also requires restricting the communist Party’s fraudulent propaganda on social media in the United States.
Under the order, some AOL media platforms are profiting from helping foreign governments such as the Communist Party spread “aggression and disinformation”.
For example, a search engine created by an American company for the Communist Party would blacklist searches for “human rights,” hide data against the Party, and track and identify users for surveillance, the order said. It has also established research partnerships in China that bring direct benefits to the Communist Party’s military.
Other US companies have also accepted advertisements paid by the Communist party government that spread false information about its mass incarceration of religious minorities and contribute to its human rights abuses.
The companies have also helped expand the communist Party’s foreign publicity, including allowing Party officials to use their platforms to spread misinformation about the origins of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and to disrupt democracy protests in Hong Kong.
The days of special protection for social media platforms are long gone because they have become one of the most powerful companies in the world, Graham wrote in his article.
“These companies have a huge impact on the daily lives of the American people and enjoy protections that no other industry enjoys. Democrats and Republicans agree that the time has come to reform or eliminate Section 230.” He said.
Where does the NDAA go
Trump also objected to proposals in the Defense Authorization Act to rename 10 military facilities named after confederate leaders, as well as plans to slow U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Germany.
The NDAA is approved by large majorities in both houses of Congress, and after it is sent to the White House, Trump has 10 days (other than working days) to issue a veto order, sign it or allow it to become law without the president’s signature.
Vox reported that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he does not support overturning Trump’s veto, a possible hint that he could persuade others to support him, while Senator Rand Paul has said he would block an NDAA provision that could delay the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana said he supported President Donald Trump’s warning to veto the defense bill without ending Section 230.
Senator Josh Hawley, A Missouri Republican, also said he would not support the defense bill if it did not include repeal of Section 230. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii, urged Trump: “Please don’t hold back. The freedom and the future of our country are at stake.”
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