Social Media's Liability Shield Is Under Assault
Social Media’s Liability Shield Is Under Assault
There is growing pressure to revise Section 230 to make internet businesses more accountable for online content
WASHINGTON—The law that enabled the rise of social media and other internet businesses is facing threats unlike anything in its 24-year history, with potentially significant consequences for websites that host user content.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was instrumental to the success of Silicon Valley tech giants such as Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google and YouTube by giving them broad immunity for the content they publish from users on their sites.
There is a growing consensus in Washington and elsewhere that Section 230 needs an overhaul, even as liberals and conservatives disagree on the reasons why.
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Congress enacted Section 230 in 1996, during the internet’s adolescence. Courts had held early online services liable when they tried to moderate posts, similar to a newspaper’s liability for what it decides to publish. Lawmakers overrode those court decisions to encourage websites to be Good Samaritans and remove objectionable content.
Revisions to Section 230 could come from multiple directions. Congress could rewrite it. Regulators could try to reinterpret it. The Supreme Court has never weighed in on Section 230, and at least one member of its conservative majority has signaled it may be time to do so.
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