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Republican legislation meant to stop censorship on social media platforms could backfire and result in less conservative speech and a number of onerous lawsuits that will hamstring their goals, conservative lawyers say.
Republican-controlled legislatures around the country have passed laws or are
pushing for bills that would restrict Big Tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter from moderating content or blocking users on their platforms. Lawmakers in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and North Dakota have introduced bills that mandate greater transparency in regard to content moderation and prevent social media platforms from canceling conservative speech. Utah s Republican governor is expected to approve such legislation shortly.
State Legislatures Push to Fight Big Tech, but Experts Warn of Limitations
Constitutional questions arise as states move to counter social media censorship Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg / Getty Images Santi Ruiz • February 23, 2021 2:10 pm
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State legislatures in Florida, Arizona, and Minnesota are moving to curb the power of social media platforms to kick off users or remove content.
The Minnesota Senate bill was introduced this week and is similar to the Arizona Senate bill. Both would impose fines of up to $75,000 on tech companies that ban users or remove their content for certain reasons a move welcomed by conservative voters concerned about censorship on major platforms. Similar legislation in Mississippi died in committee in early February.
The Implications of the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act
Allison Edwards
Senator Amy Klobuchar recently introduced the Competition and Antirust Law Enforcements Reform Act (CALERA), which aims to significantly change antitrust enforcement and standards. This proposal would make it easier for regulators to bring antitrust cases while raising barriers to large companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions. In a new analysis, AAF’s Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jennifer Huddleston examines the implications of shifting antitrust standards and considers whether consumers will benefit from these changes.
An excerpt:
CALERA would create significant changes to the framework of antitrust law. As Senator Klobuchar has indicated in her discussion of the bill, these changes would not be limited to today’s tech giants and apply to numerous other industries as well. Many of the proposed changes are based on misguided assumptions that certain actions b
CompuServe
Inc extended distributor liability to digital intermediaries that exercised little or no editorial control over third‐party content, offering them the protections traditionally granted to newsstands and booksellers. This protected CompuServe from Cubby’s defamation claim, though it left open the possibility that CompuServe might have been liable for
Rumorville’s defamation had it failed to act after being made aware of the defamatory content.
In 1995, Stratton Oakmont Inc., the brokerage firm of
Wolf
Wall
Street fame, sued internet service Prodigy Services Co. in New York state court after a user of the service’s Money Talk message board posted several screeds alleging that Stratton Oakmont’s directors were about to be indicted. Unlike CompuServe, Prodigy was attempting to run a family‐friendly business. Prodigy had promised users that it would remove “obscene, profane, or otherwise offensive” messages and promulgated “content guidelines�
Facebook is tracking your activity even when you re not on its app or website
Here s how you can turn it off and check other privacy features on other apps and services
and last updated 2021-01-31 20:50:49-05
Tech companies are becoming more transparent about how they re collecting your data and what it s being used for.
This comes as Facebook admits it s been tracking what you do outside of its app and website. Off-Facebook Activity includes information that businesses and organizations send back to Facebook about your interactions with them.
Facebook says it uses this data to show you ads that are more relevant, but some have expressed online that this is an invasion of privacy.