Trump’s Executive Order on Social Media Sparks Outcry Over Disinformation Safeguards

President Donald Trump’s new executive order on social media has drawn swift condemnation, with Nina Jankowicz, president of the watchdog group American Sunlight Project, calling it a “direct assault on reality.” The order, framed as a measure against “censorship,” effectively bars federal agencies from collaborating with social media companies to fact-check misinformation on key issues like elections and public health.

“Let’s be clear: responding to disinformation is not ‘censorship’ — it’s a vital safeguard against those who lie to erode our democracy and undermine trust in our institutions,” Jankowicz stated. She criticized the order as a victory for right-wing activists who claim that fact-checking stifles conservative voices online.

Jankowicz referenced the Supreme Court’s decision in Murthy v. Missouri, which dismissed claims that the government, researchers, and tech companies were engaged in a censorship conspiracy. “The Supreme Court made clear… those who falsely alleged that the government and platforms were conspiring to censor social media ‘fail[ed]… to link their past social-media restrictions and the defendants’ communications with the platforms.’

Yet the Trump administration and tech executives like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk continue to opportunistically repeat lies the conservative Supreme Court debunked,” she said. The statement emphasized the broader implications of Trump’s directive.

“What Trump’s Executive Order on ‘Ending Federal Censorship’ really does is chill critical speech about bad actors who use disinformation as a tool to destabilize our country and profit from lies. Disinformation is not a partisan issue; it’s a democracy issue,” Jankowicz argued, warning that foreign adversaries and disinformation profiteers stand to benefit.

The executive order arrives as tech platforms already scaling back their fact-checking initiatives. Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Facebook would phase out formal fact-checking, replacing it with a user-driven comment system akin to Elon Musk’s Community Notes on X. This move, coupled with Trump’s order, signals a dramatic shift in how disinformation is addressed on major platforms.

“That White House policy has canonized lies and conspiracy theories about those responding to disinformation further emboldens both foreign actors and disinformation profiteers,” Jankowicz warned. “Never one to break character, President Trump seeks vengeance for a slight that never happened.”

With platforms retreating from fact-checking and the government now restricted from involvement, critics fear the executive order will allow disinformation to spread unchecked, exacerbating divisions in an already polarized nation.