Former President Donald Trump vowed Thursday to ban the federal government from using the terms “misinformation” and “disinformation” to describe local speech if he retakes the White House.
Trump, 76, made the pledge as part of a broader “free speech” platform he laid out in a video policy statement shared with The Post — along with seven former FBI and CIA agents that restrict private affairs. promised to introduce an annual ban. sector US consumer records.
According to Trump, this month’s release of the Twitter Files “proves that a sinister group of Deep State bureaucrats, Silicon Valley tyrants, left-wing activists and corrupt corporate media have conspired to manipulate and silence the American people.”
“The censorship cartel must be dismantled and destroyed — and it must happen immediately,” Trump said in the video.
Some of Trump’s proposed policies, such as a ban on statutory immunity for tech platforms under Section 230 of the Communications Act unless they act neutrally, have been advanced since the 45th president took office, while others breaks new ground.
Trump said one of his first acts as president in January 2025 would be to ban federally policed local speech under the law.
“Just hours after my inauguration, I will sign an executive order prohibiting any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, business, or individual to censor, limit, categorize, or impede the lawful speech of American citizens,” he said. .
“I will then prohibit federal funds from being used to label local speech as ‘incorrect’ or ‘misinformed.’ directly or indirectly – they are Democrats, Republicans, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, etc. I will begin the process of identifying and firing the DOJ, whoever they are regardless.
Although the ban on the use of the terms “misinformation” and “disinformation” is a sharp break from the Biden administration, which has used social media tips with takedown requests to censor Facebook admitted to “tagging” the posts—which also aligns with the position of left-leaning First Amendment advocates.
American Civil Liberties Union said In response to an Oct. 31 report by The Intercept about federal pressure to censor content on social media: “The First Amendment prevents the government from deciding what’s true or false for us, online or anywhere else.”
Trump entered his third consecutive term on Nov. 15, but has kept a relatively low profile without his trademark rallies and the media coverage that marked his first bid in 2015 and 2016.
The first month of his campaign culminated in the appointment of veteran prosecutor Jack Smith as a special counsel to lead an investigation into Attorney General Merrick Garland’s role in challenging Trump’s 2020 election results and handling of classified records. Despite recent anti-Semitic remarks and West’s white nationalist ally Nick Fuentes, Trump has faced controversy over dining with rapper Kanye West.
Trump’s Big Tech free-speech appeal includes proposals to ban federal funding for universities that cooperate with censoring speech, as well as a seven-year ban on Big Tech jobs by the “deep states,” according to former FBI general counsel Jim Baker’s imminent dismissal is evident. Twitter for defying CEO Elon Musk’s transparency initiative to reveal historic censorship decisions.
“There should be a 7-year cooling-off period before any FBI, CIA, NSA, DNI, DHS, or DOD personnel are allowed to confront the challenges of major platforms infiltrated by legions of ex-deep state and intelligence operatives. take a job with a company that has information,” Trump said.
The former president also introduced a digital bill of rights that would “include the right to digital due process — in other words, without government officials issuing FBI-like information requests, should need a court order to remove online content. Twitter.”
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