Lawmakers are trying to repeal Section 230 again
Lawmakers are trying to repeal Section 230 again
The push has bipartisan support. Again.
Summary
Lawmakers are once again pushing to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from legal liability for user-generated content.
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are collaborating on a bipartisan bill to sunset the law in two years.
Repealing Section 230 aims to force Congress to renegotiate platform liability standards.
The proposal reflects growing frustration over tech giants’ power and content moderation practices, but past efforts have faced political gridlock despite bipartisan support.
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For all the people cheering or indifferent to this:
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This would affect more than social media - this would affect ANYWHERE that has user accounts that can post content - blogs, wikis, website builders, hell, even email.
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The summary states this is so it can be "renegotiated". Considering the current authoritarian direction of the United States, now would be absolutely the worst time to rewrite online content policing laws - it will absolutely be used to silence dissent.
Sounds like talking points of someone paid off by social media to sow division about the bill.
- I don’t see why it’s an issue that this would apply to moderation of all user generated content on very large online platforms. That’s the point. The platforms are pushing false and controversial content to drive engagement and have not implemented the necessary guardrails to verify correctness and minimize harm (like, when a post/blog is inciting violence).
- That’s a definite possibility in the current regime that the bill will be used to silence dissent. But from what it looks, the White House doesn’t need bills to silence dissent. Everything in the country is being done by and fought between the executive and the judiciary with 0 public involvement. At least with a bill, there are >500 people involved in passing/blocking it so a larger surface for people to influence the decision.
I would be more concerned about this bill never seeing the light of day because I don’t think the US Congress of this decade is capable of passing any major laws.
The platforms are pushing false and controversial content to drive engagement and have not implemented the necessary guardrails to verify correctness and minimize harm (like, when a post/blog is inciting violence).
In the current climate I very much doubt that this is how the bill would be used if it became law. It will be used to silence political dissenters and prevent the organization of resistance. Right-wing disinformation will get a pass. Left-wing content will be censored. LGBTQ+ content will be censored. Health advice for trans people will be censored. Black history content will be censored. Women's health and feminist content will be censored. Tech companies are not about to risk the wrath of Trump and huge financial penalties to stand up for these people's right to speak.
You could not possibly sound more like a shill if you tried.
Oh no! Anyway...
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