Wyden Defends Section 230’s Role for Smaller Players
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act remains a vital tool for allowing innovation and startups to grow, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told reporters Tuesday, the day after another legislator threatened the tech industry’s liability shield with a legislative proposal (see 2002240051). “It’s just as important now as it was then, and the big guys are always ... looking to have more tools to dominate the little guys,” said Wyden, an author of Section 230. “Our constituency was always for the disruptor, the innovator, the person who is willing to take on the powerful and entrenched interests.”
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the platform won’t fact-check political ads. House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., is looking to remove Section 230 liability protection for platforms that host false political ads. He told reporters Monday there’s something wrong with a system that allows a company to sell the right to make demonstrably false representations about political candidates. It “fundamentally” compromises democracy, he said, noting the role of microtargeted advertising.
If a newspaper publishes demonstrably false advertising, individuals can sue the newspaper, Cicilline said. Platforms shouldn’t be any different, he argued, saying one idea is to allow individuals to prove harm, similar to a libel or slander lawsuit. Cicilline wanted to introduce the legislation “several weeks ago.” He’s hoping it's ready in the next month or so. Republicans are interested in the issue, and legislative discussions are just beginning, he said.
Facebook’s arguments to allow blatantly false commercials are “totally bogus and self-serving,” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., told reporters Tuesday. He criticized the company for allowing politicians to lie with impunity and have it amplified by bots foreign and domestic. He would prefer that platforms take a proactive approach but will take a look at Cicilline’s proposal, he said. Facebook didn’t comment.
“Am I for false political ads? Of course not, but I don’t how we stop them,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told us. He’s not sure platforms should be liable for false spots.
Kennedy noted there have been false political ads as long as Facebook has existed. Political elites in Washington think the American people are “morons,” who can’t determine what’s false for themselves, he said: “Americans see opposition ads on TV all the time, and they choose which ones to believe and which ones not to.”
Platforms should have to treat political ads the same way TV stations have to treat political ads, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., told reporters he and Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., haven’t heard anything further from the administration about including Section 230 in trade agreements (see 1908060064). “They’re putting that language in there at a time when some of us have concerns about how far 230 has been misinterpreted from its original intent,” he said. “And we don’t want to get locked into trade agreements that make it more difficult for us to modernize 230.”