Section 230
Lawsuit against Snap over fentanyl deaths can proceed, judge rules
A lawsuit blaming Snapchat for a series of drug overdoses among young people can proceed, a Los Angeles judge ruled this week. A group of family members related to children…
Supreme Court rules in favor of Twitter and Google, avoiding the issue of Section 230 for now
On Thursday, the Supreme Court resolved two adjacent cases aiming to hold social platforms liable for dangerous content. The pair of cases, Twitter v. Taamneh and Gonzalez v. Google, both…
Policymakers should recognize the critical role of developers and work to support them not stifle innovation.
Supreme Court arguments this week could reshape the future of the internet
The Supreme Court is examining a short but potent law this week that, if altered, could rearrange the modern internet. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields internet companies…
Biden to address children’s online safety at State of the Union
President Joe Biden will address the nation on Tuesday evening in the second State of the Union address of his term. Per a release from the White House, the president…
Section 230 of the Communications Act, which prevents online platforms from being liable for the content posted by their users, will be evaluated by the Supreme Court in the coming…
The most prominent group lobbying for Silicon Valley’s interests in DC just fell apart
The trade group representing Silicon Valley’s biggest companies will disband, even as tech enters a new era of intense regulatory scrutiny in the nation’s capital. The Internet Association has fought…
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will talk Section 230 reform with Congress this week
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will go before Congress again this week, this time offering her unique perspective on the company’s moderation and policy failures as they relate to Section 230…
Facebook should be charting a course of humility, introspection and transparency as their best and only strategy for sustaining growth. What does this look like? Well, it starts with an…
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Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies before the Senate
After revealing her identity on Sunday night, Frances Haugen — the whistleblower who leaked controversial Facebook documents to The Wall Street Journal — testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Tuesday. Haugen’s testimony came after a hearing last week, when Facebook global head of Safety Antigone Davis was questioned about the company’s…
The FDA should regulate Instagram’s algorithm as a drug
Instagram’s unwillingness to do what is right is a clarion call for regulation: The FDA must assert its codified right to regulate the algorithm powering the drug of Instagram.
Democratic bill would suspend Section 230 protections when social networks boost anti-vax conspiracies
Two Democratic senators introduced a bill Thursday that would strip away the liability shield that social media platforms hold dear when those companies boost anti-vaccine conspiracies and other kinds of…
Biden taps Google critic to lead the DOJ’s antitrust division
The Biden administration tripled down on its commitment to reining in powerful tech companies Tuesday, proposing committed Big Tech critic Jonathan Kanter to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Kanter…
Trump’s new lawsuits against social media companies are going nowhere fast
Trump’s spicy trio of lawsuits against the social media platforms that he believes wrongfully banned him have succeeded in showering the former president with a flurry of media attention, but…
Trump is suing Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over censorship claims
In his first press event since ignominiously leaving office earlier this year, former President Donald Trump announced that he is launching a volley of class-action lawsuits against Twitter, Facebook and…
Florida’s ban on bans will test First Amendment rights of social media companies
Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a restriction on social media companies’ ability to ban candidates for state offices and news outlets, and in doing so offered a…
At social media hearing, lawmakers circle algorithm-focused Section 230 reform
Rather than a CEO-slamming sound bite free-for-all, Tuesday’s big tech hearing on algorithms aimed for more of a listening session vibe — and in that sense it mostly succeeded. The…
Clarence Thomas plays a poor devil’s advocate in floating First Amendment limits for tech companies
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas flaunted a dangerous ignorance regarding matters digital in an opinion published today. In attempting to explain the legal difficulties of social media platforms, particularly those…
Big Tech companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate: We need Congress to act
The federal government and regulatory powers need to hold Big Tech accountable to their commitments by immediately enacting policy change.
The SAFE TECH Act offers Section 230 reform, but the law’s defenders warn of major side effects
The first major Section 230 reform proposal of the Biden era is out. In a new bill, Senate Democrats Mark Warner (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) propose…
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I’m a free-speech champion. I don’t even know what that means anymore.
The president of the United States is supposedly the most powerful man in the world. He also can’t post to Twitter. Or Facebook. Or a bunch of other social networks as we discovered over the course of the past week (he still has access to the nuclear launch codes though, so that’s an interesting dynamic…
Section 230 is threatened in new bill tying liability shield repeal to $2,000 checks
Tech got dragged into yet another irrelevant Congressional scuffle this week after President Trump agreed to sign a bipartisan pandemic relief package but continued to press for additional $2,000 checks…
Trump vetoes major defense bill, citing Section 230
Following through on his previous threat, President Trump has vetoed the $740 million National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a major bill that allocates military funds each year. In tweets early…
Trump’s odd new attack on Section 230 is probably doomed
Trump’s crusade against a key internet law known as Section 230 tends to pop up in unlikely places. His Twitter feed on Thanksgiving, for one. Or at times you’d think…
Facebook and Twitter CEOs testify about election efforts
After giving in to the looming threat of subpoenas, two of tech’s most high profile CEOs will again be grilled by Congress. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will host…
AOL founder Steve Case, involved early in Section 230, says it’s time to change it
AOL founder Steve Case was there in Dulles, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., when in 1996 the Communications Decency Act was passed as part of a major overhaul of…
Watch Facebook, Google and Twitter’s CEOs defend the law that created social media to Congress
The CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google will appear before the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday in big tech’s latest showdown with Congress. The Senate hearing will have a narrower,…
With ‘absurd’ timing, FCC announces intention to revisit Section 230
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced his intention to pursue a reform of Section 230 of the Communications Act, which among other things limits the liability of internet platforms for…
The next big tech hearing is scheduled for October 28
A day after the Senate Commerce Committee moved forward with plans to subpoena the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google, it looks like some of the most powerful leaders in…
Section 230 will be on the chopping block at the next big tech hearing
It looks like we’re in for another big tech CEO hearing. The Senate Commerce Committee voted Thursday to move forward with subpoenas for Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and…