Trump didn’t close parts of the internet to ISIS

In late 2015, candidate Donald Trump announced he would thwart the Islamic State by cutting its access to the internet.

"We're losing a lot of people because of the internet and we have to do something," he said during a rally in South Carolina. "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them, maybe in certain areas closing that internet up in some way."

Trump's promise came amid a rash of attacks around the world; a month before his rally, ISIS carried out a series of coordinated attacks in Paris, killing 130 people.

Two years later, as president, Trump doubled down on his goal, saying the internet was the terrorist organization's "main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!"

Today, ISIS has lost its territorial strongholds and is greatly diminished — but not because Trump stopped it from using the internet.

Unlike other countries, the United States does not require internet service providers or social media platforms to remove terrorist content. Federal law generally says internet service providers aren't legally responsible for what users post on their platforms. The U.S. also hasn't signed onto international, non-binding pledges to remove terrorist content online.

"The United States believes that protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, is an important part of our counterterrorism strategy because increased censorship and other restrictions on human rights can lead to greater instances of terrorist radicalization," the State Department wrote in its 2019 terrorism report.

Much of the progress that's been made to reduce the influence of ISIS online comes from tech companies like Twitter, Facebook and Google, which automatically remove what they consider terrorist content from their platforms. Still, Trump tried to open internet platforms up to more liability.

In May 2020, Trump signed an executive order calling for limitations on Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act, the provision that grants tech platforms their legal immunity. In December, he vetoed a military spending bill in part because lawmakers did not include a repeal of Section 230. (Congress voted to override his veto, a first in the Trump years, and the measure became law.)

Trump's issue with Section 230 wasn't that it gives cover for ISIS to continue recruiting on the internet — rather, he said he was concerned that it let tech platforms stifle conservative opinions. 

Congress hasn't repealed Section 230, nor has it passed legislation to close parts of the internet to terrorist organizations. Experts previously told PolitiFact that wouldn't be feasible, given how the internet works and how the First Amendment protects speech.

So, where does that leave ISIS?

The United Nations says more than 10,000 fighters are active in Iraq and Syria, where attacks are on the rise. The internet "remains a serious tool for terrorism and extremism that goes far beyond national boundaries," according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Intelligence groups have said the coronavirus pandemic opened up more avenues for terrorist groups to recruit online.

We rate this Promise Broken.