Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced the Sunset Section 230 Act, which would repeal the tech liability shield within two years.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields companies from facing lawsuits over third-party user-generated content on their platforms.
It has become increasingly controversial in recent years, as Americans have sought to hold major tech firms accountable, particularly for online harms to children.
“Sunsetting Section 230 will force Big Tech to come to the table take ownership over the harms it has wrought,” Durbin said in a statement. “And if Big Tech doesn’t, this bill will open the courtroom to victims of its platforms. Parents have been begging Congress to step in, and it’s time we do so.”
Graham touted the “wide and deep bipartisan support” for their efforts.
They are joined on the bill by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
https://archive.is/OKg0p (senate gov - Senate Judiciary Committee press release)
https://archive.is/3xxTW (house gov - Congresswoman Harriet Hageman press release)
https://archive.is/2PnqH (senate gov - Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat Senate whip, press release)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6746 (Dick Durbin bill)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3546 (Harriet Hageman bill)
History of Section 230 by Wired Magazine
I grow more convinced all the time that there’s a joint effort between tech corporations and governments to kill the open internet.
Repealing section 230 will kill social media in the US.
And AI search “assistants” will make it so that most people won’t bother actually going to sites, which will destroy their ad revenue, which will put them out of business But conveniently enough, AI data centers will still have all of their content, which they can and will then put behind paywalls.
Just about every effort by Western governments can be described as a “joint effort” with corporations because they’re just doing what the corporations tell them to do.
I’m suspecting the same. This 230 thing, the massive surge in datacenter construction of the last few years, the memory and storage disruption which is just beginning and growing (and already expected to have bad long-term effects on all personal computing devices), the sweeping i.d. verification bullshit around the world and in many U.S. states now, the unilateral and unaccountable influence that demons like Thiel and Yarvin seem to have on politics.
It all feels like a complex, orchestrated push toward total individual surveillance and removal of personal (thus private) computing device ownership and open communications.
Big Tech loves to push for regulations only they can implement…
Can a dead internet be killed even further? Lmao
There’s just going to be bots posting illegal shit and then other bots immediately filing lawsuits against site owners/admins.
Also, get ready for Wikipedia editors to go to jail for having widely agreed upon facts published on the site.
So if I tell ChatGPT to tell me to commit violence upon myself, open AI would be the publisher of that information. Ergo, I could now sue OpenAI, correct?
But Black Dynamite I’m a moderator on a politically devisive forum!
“Corgiwithalaptop, you are here today accused of banning GroyperHitler88 for hate speech and violating his first amendment rights. Also, you are accused of using your platform to advocate against capitalism and against the presidency. Guilt will land you 5 years in jail.”
exceptions for big corps like facebook due to national security
An entire law targeting Hexbear moderators??
Section 230 protects all social media websites. Repealing Section 230 would affect other social media website as well.
Section 230 says “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
Section 230 gives website operators immunity of liability for information posted by other users of the website. It also provides operators with some protection for censoring obscene materials.
The bill introduced by Dick Durbin will add an ammendment to Section 230 which says that Section 230 expires on December 31 2026. This would mean that websites would not have immunity to liability for material posted by users.
I really recommend reading the Wired article. it’s a long read but very interesting. The history of Section 230 includes influences from the Timothy McVeigh bombing and a 1995 libel lawsuit by Stratton Oakmont (the scam stock trading company in the movie ‘The Wolf of Wallstreet’).
https://www.wired.com/story/section-230-internet-sacred-law-false-idol/
https://archive.is/gtJ8b (paywall bypass)
I heard the mods refer to us regular users as “the most dangerous game”.
That’s just their favorite movie starring trailblazing gay actor gay Michael Douglas
Isn’t the site hosted in France?
It’s pretty common for websites to be hosted in France because the OVH datacenters are cheap but I don’t think that makes website operators immune to US laws if they live in the US.
Federation might not last much longer if other instances count as publishers of our posts too
The tech bro CEOs are some of the most influential people in the Trump administration - why on earth would they want this? It would kill their revenue, especially for sites like Facebook.
It cannot be understated just how shit fascists treat their so-called “friends”. Way to fuck over predominantly some of your loyal voters.
Good!
Guys, I think we found our leftist gamergate.
“The internet saved the GOP, and THIS is how they repay us?!?”
Section 230 in its present implementation is a travesty, but full liability is also untenable. There needs to be some responsibility for hosts to keep horrific content controlled, while protecting objectionable content. Some balance.
They need a pretty good sword and a pretty good shield, but what they have today is straight up broken.
