Trump signs executive order to protect free speech

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing government agencies not to infringe on the free speech of Americans.

“In America, we believe in free speech and we're bringing it back starting today to stop the weaponisation,” Trump said before signing the executive order at the Capitol One Arena here.

The executive order is to immediately end the federal government's censorship of the American people, he said.

Over the last four years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the federal government did not approve, the executive order said.

Under the guise of combatting “misinformation”, “disinformation”, and “malinformation”, the federal government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the US.

Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society, it said.

The executive order said it is the policy of the United States to secure the rights of the American people to engage in constitutionally protected speech; and ensure that no federal government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.

It also ensures that no taxpayer resources are used to engage in or facilitate any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen; and identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the federal government related to censorship of protected speech.

The executive order also asks the attorney general to investigate the activities of the federal government over the last four years that are inconsistent with the purposes and policies of this order and prepare a report to be submitted to the president, through the deputy chief of staff for policy, with recommendations for appropriate remedial actions to be taken based on the findings of the report.