Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Wednesday demanded that Twitter answer questions about the company’s editorial policies and warned that it was acting like a traditional publisher — negating legal privileges Twitter has traditionally enjoyed.

“For the first time ever, Twitter branded the president’s tweets with a ‘fact check’ designed to encourage readers to believe that the president’s political speech was inaccurate,” Hawley noted in a letter addressed to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. “Twitter’s decision to editorialize regarding the content of political speech raises questions about why Twitter should continue receiving special status and special immunity from publisher liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.”

Twitter, Facebook, and other tech giants have long insisted that they are “distributors” of content created by their users rather than publishers akin to traditional media companies. Under the legislation Hawley referenced, distributors may avoid legal liability in cases involving libel, defamation, and other actions related to speech their users publish.

Hawley, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, said Twitter had targeted the president but failed to apply similar standards to “outright lies and propaganda” published by the Chinese Communist Party, including “blaming American soldiers for the start of Covid-19.”

“What about other candidates for political office, like former Vice President Joe Biden?” Hawley asked. “Will Twitter editorialize regularly in response to his comments on social media? Or will Twitter only go after people its employees dislike?”

He also accused Twitter of acting like other media outlets — and indicated there would be consequences if Twitter failed to explain the difference. “Editorializing is what publishers do, like the New York Times and the Washington Post. Your company is treated very differently from publishers, as you know. Traditional publishers are liable when they mess up. But under Section 230, Twitter receives a special government carve-out that shields it from liability. That statute tells courts to treat Twitter like a passive distributor of third-party content. Twitter’s decision to affix its own editorial content to users’ posts brings into question the basis for that immunity.”

Several hours after Hawley released his letter, Twitter took action to fact-check two tweets by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Director Zhao Lijian related to the start of the coronavirus. Both fact-checks led to a page on Twitter dated April 21, which quoted a World Health Organization statement finding “all available evidence suggests the virus has an animal origin.”

On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump said he would introduce an executive order on Thursday related to Twitter. The administration last year reportedly drafted an executive order, “Protecting Americans from Online Censorship,” that would have enabled the Federal Communications Commission to take action along the lines of Hawley’s recommendation.

“It makes little sense to treat companies that publish their editorial comments about others’ content as if they are mere distributors,” Hawley added in his letter to Twitter. “Companies that act like publishers should be treated like publishers.”

He asked the company to provide him with answers by June 15.

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