President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an event on protecting seniors with diabetes in the Rose Garden White House, Tuesday, May 26, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
By Zeke Miller
President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened social media companies with new regulations or even shuttering after Twitter added fact checks to two of his tweets.
The president can’t unilaterally regulate or close the companies, which would require action by Congress or the Federal Communications Commission. But that didn't stop Trump from angrily issuing strong warnings.
Claiming tech giants “silence conservative voices,” Trump tweeted early Wednesday, “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.” Later he tweeted without elaboration, “Big Action to follow.”
He repeated his unsubstantiated claim — which sparked his latest showdown with Silicon Valley — that expanding mail-in voting “would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots.”
There was no immediate reaction from Twitter or other social media companies to the president’s threats.
Trump and his campaign had lashed out Tuesday after Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicted that “mail boxes will be robbed,” among other things. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that guides users to a Twitter “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.
Trump replied on Twitter, accusing the platform of “interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election” and insisting that “as president, I will not allow this to happen.” His 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said Twitter’s “clear political bias” had led the campaign to pull “all our advertising from Twitter months ago.” Twitter has banned all political advertising since last November.
Trump did not explain his threat Wednesday, and the call to expand regulation appeared to fly in the face of long-held conservative principles on deregulation.
But some Trump allies, who have alleged bias on the part of tech companies, have questioned whether platforms like Twitter and Facebook should continue to enjoy liability protections as “platforms” under federal law — or be treated more like publishers, which can face lawsuits over content.
The protections have been credited with allowing the unfettered growth of the internet for more than two decades, but now some Trump allies are advocating that social media companies face more scrutiny.
“Big tech gets a huge handout from the federal government," Republican Sen. Josh Hawley told Fox News. “They get this special immunity, this special immunity from suits and from liability that’s worth billions of dollars to them every year. Why are they getting subsidized by federal taxpayers to censor conservatives, to censor people critical of China?”
There was no immediate reaction from Twitter or other social media companies to the president's threats.
Cheeze, Inc. is a media platform that hopes to help photographers to tell stories through the use of NFT’s. Simon Hudson, founder and CEO of Cheeze, Inc. joined Cheddar News to explain the process as well as teasing its "Women of Authenticity" display for Women’s History Month. "We've made it very simple and focused very hard on reducing all of the friction to bring their items to the blockchain." Hudson explained. He also addressed reports that cloud software giant Salesforce could be getting into the NFT marketplace.
President Biden's push for electric vehicles is doing more than trying to hold off climate change as it also hopes to revive American manufacturing jobs. The latest company to open an EV charging production plant in the U.S. is Australia-based Tritium, looking to open its new Lebanon, Tennessee, facility in the fall of 2022. It's expected to create at least 500 jobs in the region and reach a production capacity of 10,000 charging units per year. Jane Hunter, CEO and executive director of Tritium, joined Closing Bell to discuss the plant, production capacity, and working with the Biden administration. "The policies that they put in place have directly driven demand for our fast charging products," she said. "Discussions that we have are just incredibly positive because this administration wants to have an electric superhighway that runs all across the country so that it's open equitably for all people to drive electric vehicles."
Samsung unveiled its latest product lineup, including a new family of Galaxy S22 smartphones featuring the S22 Ultra with a larger screen, more powerful camera, and the Samsung S Pen stylus. The company also revealed its latest tablet, the Tab S8 Ultra, featuring a 14.6" screen, expanded storage, and 4K video capability. Cheddar News was able to showcase each device as Allison Johnson, reviews writer at The Verge, joined Closing Bell to discuss the new releases, the standout features, and more.
Shares of Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth surged after the company reported Q3 earnings Wednesday morning, with shares up more than 15 percent at the close of the day's trading session. Despite net revenue declining year-over-year, Canopy beat analyst expectations and has ramped up efforts to develop a "THC ecosystem' in the U.S. Canopy Growth's CEO, David Klein, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the report. He noted that its brands Storz & Bickel vaporizers and BioSteel beverages showed record growth.
Commercial property ownership platform withco recently raised $32 million across a seed and Series A funding round. The company purchases properties and then rents them back to small business owners and works to transition them into full ownership. Founder and CEO Kevin Song says withco was inspired by his family's experience of operating a Brooklyn grocery store for two decades and being forced to shutter the business due to a doubling in rent by a new landlord. Now, Song says his mission is to help small business owners become commercial property owners, in a way that's simple and affordable. Song joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
