President Trump's pretzel-logic tech policy

The Trump administration's policy toward big tech moved in two opposite directions recently, as the White House sought the big platforms' help in predicting mass shootings while it was also reportedly drafting plans to punish them for perceived bias. On Aug 9, the administration invoked the help of Google, Facebook and other companies to detect and deter mass shooters before they act. Meanwhile, the White House has circulated a draft of a new executive order aimed at imposing new restrictions on tech platforms' freedom to moderate the content users contribute. But, the draft order on platform moderation wasn't on the agenda at the Aug 12 White House meeting, and the topic didn't come up at all. Another contradiction: the FBI is seeking private-sector proposals to build it a vast dragnet of social media data intended "to proactively identify and reactively monitor threats to the United States and its interests." This comes at the same time that Facebook has agreed to a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for violating its users' privacy rights.