Trump replaces FCC member in bid to push through Twitter/Facebook crackdown

Enlarge / Federal Communication Commission Republican members (L-R) Brendan Carr, Michael O'Rielly, and Chairman Ajit Pai participate in a discussion during the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 23, 2018, in National Harbor, Maryland. (credit: Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla )

President Donald Trump today nominated one of his administration officials to serve on the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to push through his proposed crackdown on social media websites.

Trump announced the nomination of Nathan Simington, who is currently a senior advisor in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Simington "played a significant role in the agency's social media regulation agenda," as The Verge reported last week when news broke that Trump was considering Simington for the FCC position.

Simington would replace Republican Michael O'Rielly, who apparently angered Trump by saying that the FCC must uphold First Amendment speech protections "that apply to corporate entities, especially when they engage in editorial decision making." O'Rielly's comments signaled that he isn't likely to support the Trump administration petition, submitted by the NTIA, that asks the FCC to reinterpret Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in order to limit social media platforms' legal protections for hosting third-party content when the platforms take down or alter content they consider objectionable.

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