Congress wants to change the protections offered under Section 230 of the Telecommunications act – but not in a way you might think (or want). While the previous administration wanted to remove the protections afforded by Section 230 to minimize potentially biased censorship, the current administration instead wants to modify these protections to force more censorship:
Senate Democrats propose Section 230 reform bill to hold Big Tech ‘accountable’ for content
The authors (at least one of them) of this reform have taken the position that Internet service providers must protect their users from “unlawful [and] discriminatory conduct”. I disagree; if social media users truly post “unlawful” content then it is up to law enforcement to take legal action and protect the affected users. When such moderation is left to the potentially biased view of social media providers then we face a risk of the minority voice being extinguished.
The idea that Internet service providers should be held civilly and criminally liable for speech that they do not moderate on their platforms is like saying cities should be held liable for what their residents say in the public square. If someone posts something illegal on social media, it is only they who should be held accountable – the same as if they said it in the public square. Otherwise it should be left to the users whether or not they want to listen – again, just as in public. Making social media companies liable for the speech of their users will only add legitimacy to their biased censorship of the minority voice.
I agree that Section 230 needs to be changed, but it needs to be changed to enhance free speech – not cripple it.