White House drafts order to investigate Google, Facebook
An executive order for presidential signature would instruct federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to investigate Alphabet’s Google, Facebook and other social media companies
The White House has drafted an executive order for President Donald Trump’s signature that would instruct federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to open probes into the practises of Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook Inc, and other social media companies.
The order is in its preliminary stages and has not yet been run past other government agencies, said a White House official.
A draft of the document instructs US antitrust authorities to “thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws”.
It instructs other government agencies to recommend within a month after it is signed, actions that could potentially “protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias”.
The document does not name any companies. If signed, the order would represent a significant escalation of Trump’s aversion to Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies, whom he is publicly accused of silencing conservative voices and news sources online.