What Donald Trump’s executive orders mean for tech? ...Middle East

Donald Trump’s first day in the presidency was not short of action – or controversy. Among the executive orders he signed into law were divisive decisions on immigration and energy exploitation. But no less significant were those he targeted at tech.

The US’s fast-paced tech sector is one of the key engines of growth Trump is relying on to grow America’s economy and keep the promises he made during the campaign. As a businessman prior to his last time as president, Trump also recognises the importance of helping companies expand.

How vital tech was could be seen at his inauguration, where leaders from Google, Meta and the former Amazon CEO were all in attendance and on the front row behind the President – seated in front of his own cabinet appointees.

And in a bumper signing of executive orders that took place after the inauguration, Trump further laid the path for tech companies to thrive under his presidency. Here’s what’s changed – and what it means.

One of the first actions Trump took was to roll back a number of Biden-era decisions on key topics, including artificial intelligence. The new President decided to scrap Executive Order 14110, which was passed in October 2023 by Joe Biden, and was designed to enshrine safe, secure and trustworthy development of AI.

“Among other common sense safeguards, this order protected Americans against AI fraud; protected families from AI discrimination in housing and the criminal justice system; and protected patients from unsafe AI tools in healthcare settings,” said Nicole Gill, co-founder and executive director of Accountable Tech, a non-profit.

“With this order gone, these protections disappear,” Gill added. “Just as disturbing, Trump’s repeal will rollback safety and reporting standards for dual-use and foundation models, meaning developers will no longer be required to test or report the cyber and physical security threats their models pose.”

It’s a boon for US AI companies like OpenAI that are trying to maintain tech supremacy over Chinese competitors. But experts worry it could cause more harm than good.

Championing free speech

The ability to say what you want, when you want, and where you want has been a core tenet of the Trump campaign – and a cherished freedom for his supporters. So it’s little wonder that it was one of the executive orders Trump put into action on his first day in the job. The order, “Restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship”, took aim at the so-called “woke agenda”, and presented itself in opposition to what the Biden administration had put in place before.

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Within the order’s text were claims that the previous administration had put “substantial coercive pressure on third parties such as social media companies, to moderate, de-platform, or otherwise suppress speech that the federal government did not approve.” The order claims the Biden White House weaponised the terms mis- and disinformation to infringe on free speech rights.

“The executive order on free speech is merely paying lip service to his base who frankly have a poor understanding of the First Amendment [of the US constitution],” said Steven Buckley, a lecturer in social media and US politics at City St George’s University, London. “The orders are all performative and aimed towards making it look like Trump is doing things,” Buckley added. “However what they really are, are signals to his cabinet picks and followers in government that they have the green-light to bully and intimidate the media and those that speak out against the Trump regime.”

TikTok given a limited reprieve

One of those watching Trump’s actions most closely was Shou Chew, TikTok’s embattled CEO, who has seen his app banned by a Biden-era piece of legislation, a challenge knocked back by the Supreme Court, and the app going dark for a period just before the inauguration.

TikTok’s CEO will have welcomed Trump’s executive order covering TikTok – though may well have been left wanting more from it. While it had been rumoured Trump would allow TikTok a 90-day extension to the banning order he said he would overturn, the order itself only provides a window of 75 days to overcome concerns, in collaboration with the White House. (Trump has hinted he would like to see the US take a 50 per cent share in a joint venture with TikTok.)

The order itself is weak, experts reckon, and doesn’t supersede the actual law upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this month. “The congressionally-passed law still applies during that time,” wrote Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of tech trade group Chamber of Progress, on Bluesky. “The law isn’t ‘waiting’ on Trump to decide what happens next.”

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