Earlier this week, president Trump passed an executive order seeking to limit Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — a law that protects tech companies like Facebook from being held liable for what its users say on the platform. The move has been widely seen as an act of payback after Twitter began attaching fact-checking messages to president Trump’s tweets this week.

Of course, Facebook has strongly pushed back against the proposed measure, saying it will only encourage tech companies to implement stronger censorship policies and restrict free speech.

“We believe in protecting freedom of expression on our services, while protecting our community from harmful content,” Facebook said in response to the order. “Repealing or limiting section 230… will restrict more speech online, not less. By exposing companies to potential liability for everything that billions of people around the world say, this would penalize companies that choose to allow controversial speech and encourage platforms to censor anything that might offend anyone.”

It’s unlikely that this order will result in action against Facebook anytime soon, but it could drag the social media giant into many lengthy court battles. And that alone might be the intended punishment for the company.

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