Will Trump shut down the internet when he loses?

[orangecrush]

47. True, but...

" I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about,” Donald Trump told a reporter in a 2020 Oval Office exchange. One of those powers is his authority to shut down radio, television, both wireless and wired phone networks, and the internet.

An obscure provision tucked at the back of the Communications Act (Sec.706, codified as 47 USC 606) empowers the president to “cause the closing of any station for radio communications” (such as broadcasting or mobile phone networks) as well as “cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communications” (such as telephone and internet networks). All that is necessary for the exercise of these huge powers is a “proclamation by the President” of “national emergency” in the case of broadcast stations and mobile phones, or the “interest of the national security” for the internet or telephone networks. The statute also gives the president the power to suspend or amend FCC regulations.

Such authority makes one tremble when considered alongside Donald Trump’s stated belief, “When somebody’s the President of the United States, the authority is total.” His recent threat to social media platforms to “close them down” continues his efforts to use government authority to coerce and manipulate the media."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2020/06/25/could-donald-trump-claim-a-national-security-threat-to-shut-down-the-internet/amp/