Welcome to the first presidential debate. I know the world and America are vexed by so many problems, but Mr. President and Mr. Trump, I’d like to focus my questions tonight on just the First Amendment, that tricky document of 45 words that guarantees free speech and free press and directs much of the fate of democracy. Your answers will tell us: do you trust that information will enable self-government or do you seek an authoritarian control of the debate?
The Internet and social media are now, of course, universal parts of our lives — for belter and worse. Are you committed to fixing them? Young people are lured to dangerous places; teens are regularly threatened and harassed; teen suicide is at an all-time high; easy access to violent videos is commonplace.
Do you believe the First Amendment permits aggressive regulation of Facebook, Instagram, Google and Apple? Do you think federal regulations are needed or is that censorship? Do you believe social media should have the same protections as mainstream media?
Both of you have been rather silent on what might be one of the most epidemic problems we face: 23 million kids have been bullied or harassed. Mr. Trump, you mostly complain that Google isn’t nice to you in its searches. But what about dangerous behavior of profiteering media moguls that endanger teens? What legislation will you support?
Mr. President, you have filed four lawsuits against the Big Tech companies, yet you have cozied up to them to make them carry your message on COVID-19 vaccines. Can you really proceed with old boy politics when young people are suffering?
That is what the Columbia Journalism Review calls the difference between how the press has been treated in the Trump and Biden administrations. Mr. Trump you have disrespected the press for years, calling it the enemy of........