Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ The Verge's Deep Read of Trump's Executive Order Targeting Online Forums Adam Engst As [1]the US death toll in the COVID-19 pandemic crossed 100,000, [2]Twitter affixed warning labels about misleading information to a pair of President Trump's tweets about mail-in ballots. Seemingly in retaliation, Trump issued an executive order aimed at rolling back the liability protections given to online forums'specifically Twitter and Facebook, but also including the likes of TidBITS Talk'under [3]Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Without such protections, any online platform that hosts discussions could be legally liable for what's said. The Verge's Adi Robertson takes [4]a line-by-line read of the executive order to provide context, background, and a reality check (the EFF suggests the executive order [5]misreads the law and is unconstitutional). We can't say that you'll understand the executive order by the end'that may be impossible'but at least you'll be up to speed on what's happening and why. [6]Read original article References Visible links 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/100000-deaths-american-coronavirus/ 2. https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/27/twitter-vs-trump-fact-checking-dorsey/ 3. https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18700605/section-230-internet-law-twenty-six-words-that-created-the-internet-jeff-kosseff-interview 4. https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/29/21273191/trump-twitter-social-media-censorship-executive-order-analysis-bias 5. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/05/trump-executive-order-misreads-key-law-promoting-free-expression-online-and 6. https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/29/21273191/trump-twitter-social-media-censorship-executive-order-analysis-bias Hidden links: 7. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2020/05/TheVerge-Internet-censorship.jpg .