# When and how will Trump commandeer the internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [April 7, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758 "2025-04-07T21:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/41 "2025-04-08T21:37:16Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Without 230 SDMB and the mods may find themselves responsible for something I said. Maybe the SDMB lawyers can get out of it on first amendment grounds, or a jury decides I’m 98% responsible for the libel, and SDMB is only 2% responsible. Either way, SDMB’s (and the mod’s) exposure is much greater Very likely and I agree section 230 is very important for that reason. But in terms of controlling the Internet the war has already been lost. Whatever freedoms are inherent in the internet as a distributed protocol are irrelevant. For the vast majority of people “the internet” means the social media app on their phones. And that’s under the control of a couple of oligarchs who are either actively pro Trump or willing to do whatever it takes to keep trump happy ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/42 "2025-04-08T23:16:13Z")
He certainly won’t want to shut down the internet which is the conduit for all his lies. He may well want to control it. As for SDMB, maybe all the mods should be outside the US. In the interests of solidarity, I would be willing to try it again. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/43 "2025-04-08T23:49:11Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Maybe the SDMB lawyers… The SDMB has lawyers? Who are they? Who pays them? Do they wear suits? Do they have offices in big high-rise buildings with floor-to-ceiling windows? > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > As for SDMB, maybe all the mods should be outside the US… I vote for this. Then we can have Dopefests at _their_ places of residence. Oh, wait. Maybe we won’t be able to get back in the USA… okay, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/44 "2025-04-08T23:55:08Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The SDMB has lawyers? Who are they? Who pays them? Do they wear suits? Do they have offices in big high-rise buildings with floor-to-ceiling windows? Think Lionel Hutz. Now think of lawyer who has to charge a lower rate than Hutz to get any business. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/45 "2025-04-09T00:15:26Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The SDMB has lawyers? The site is owned by a media conglomerate, so I would assume so. > **[Chicago Public Media](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Public_Media)** > > Chicago Public Media (CPM) is a not-for-profit radio and print media company. CPM operates as the primary National Public Radio member organization for Chicago. It owns three non-commercial educational FM broadcast stations and one FM translator. In addition to local news and information productions, it produces the programs Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! for NPR stations, and This American Life which is distributed by PRX to other radio stations. On January 30, 2022, Chicago Public Media acq... ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/46 "2025-04-09T00:23:29Z")
I’m kind of dazzled. 🤩 Do they know we exist? Do we want them to know? * * * * * * > [@DocCathode](#): > > Think Lionel Hutz. Now that I can picture. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/47 "2025-04-09T00:44:44Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The SDMB has lawyers? Who are they? Chicago Public Media has lawyers, and they are the ones who will have to deal with it. A process server could show up at CPM headquarters in Chicago, and then there would have to be decisions about the SDMB. It may be a simple demand to remove a post, or to reveal information about the poster. They will have to decide to agree to the demands, or fight it. It might be something more threatening, such as a lawsuit claiming damages. This is not a flippant response. Weaponization of the legal system has been happening for a long time. Many of the proposed internet censorship laws will only increase the danger. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/48 "2025-04-09T02:05:58Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > This is not a flippant response. I appreciate that, especially in light of the fact that my question was kind of flippant. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758/49 "2025-08-14T12:38:50Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > He kind of already has. For the vast majority of people “the Internet” means social media. So case in point. You don’t need to commandeer the Internet when you have the oligarchs in your pocket: > **[Meta appoints anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as...](https://www.advocate.com/news/meta-robby-starbuck-ai-bias)** > > Robby Starbuck has been appointed as an AI bias advisor at Meta with the goal of making the company's chat bot less "woke." That dickwad will have more control over what people see on the Internet (which for most of the world _is_ social media, there is no other “Internet") than if Trump managed to get martial law declared over all the other independent Internet sites like SDMB combined [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-how-will-trump-commandeer-the-internet/1016758.md?page=2)