Members of Congress don’t agree on much these days, but there’s one idea both the right and the left support: Something needs to be done to rein in social media companies.
Democrats’ concerns revolve around harassment and misinformation, while Republicans’ focus is on political speech. Both sides have set their sights on a small but critical piece of federal law known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. But such discussions have been clouded by fundamental misunderstandings of what CDA230 is and the role it plays in the legal functioning of the internet today.
This provision shields internet service providers from liability associated with defamatory content posted by users. Twitter and Facebook would be utterly unviable without CDA230. But it also benefits the little sites. An online guest book on a bed-and-breakfast website, for example, would be a legal time bomb for the B&B without CDA230. Here we explore the historic and current implications of the law, and some of the misconceptions that muddle the discussion.