Moments before Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to limit social media companies’ ability to fact-check him, the President grasped for a comparison to justify the move.
To explain exactly how and why, let’s take Trump up on his premise. Let’s say that a local telecommunications company did censor or edit a conversation you were having over the phone with a friend. What that would mean is that your friend would not get the exact message you were seeking to send. They would get some sort of altered message.
That’s bad! We can all agree on that! If I want to call my wife and tell her I love her and the phone company turns « I love you » into « I like you, » well, I might have a problem!
Like I said, the Trump comparison makes sense — for like one second.
But now let’s assume the opposite. The phone company does NOT edit or censor what you say. And what you say is something like: « Did you know that wearing a mask actually makes you more likely to get coronavirus? »
That is, of course, not true.
