WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s top communications regulator said Thursday he was not opposed to Facebook and Twitter’s decisions to block the president from his social media platforms.
“Given the circumstances we saw yesterday … I will not guess these decisions,” Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), told C-SPAN on Thursday, according to a recording of the interview seen by Reuters.
Asked whether Trump took responsibility for the violent actions Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, Pai said that “it was a terrible mistake to suggest that the election results, and in particular the process that went on. “It could have changed anyway in the Senate and in the House. It was a terrible mistake and I don’t think it should be pleased.”
Pai, who was appointed president by Trump in January 2017, said he would not move forward to establish any new rules requested by the outgoing president to limit liability protections for social media companies, a spokesman for the agency.
Last year, Trump demanded that the FCC establish new rules to limit the protection of social media companies under section 230, a provision in the 1996 Communications Decency Act that protects companies from liability. for content posted by its users and that allows them to remove legal but objectionable posts.
Pai had said Oct. 15 that he would move forward to set new rules, but told C-SPAN Thursday that there was not enough time before President-elect Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20 to continue.
On Wednesday, Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and the president released a video supporting them. Both Twitter and Facebook withdrew the video and banned Trump from making new posts.
The Biden-led FCC is unlikely to move forward, as the two current Democratic commissioners of the FCC have previously called for them to reject Trump’s effort.
Trump had also urged Congress to repeal Article 230 and in part vetoed an annual defense bill because it did not include repeal. Congress overturned his veto.
Report by David Shepardson Edited by Chris Reese and David Gregorio