The U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door for lower courts to clarify when the government can regulate the tech industry’s content moderation practices, legal experts said Friday.
Section 230
Expect a Donald Trump White House and FCC to focus on deregulation and undoing the agency's net neutrality and digital discrimination rules, telecom policy experts and FCC watchers tell us. Brendan Carr, one of the two GOP minority commissioners, remains the seeming front-runner to head the agency if Trump wins the White House in November (see 2407120002). Despite repeated comments from Trump as a candidate and president calling for FCC action against companies such as CNN and MSNBC over their news content, many FCC watchers on both sides of the aisle told us they don’t expect the agency to actually act against cable networks or broadcast licenses under a second Trump administration.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is widely seen as the favorite to become FCC chair in a second Donald Trump presidency, and former FCC staffers and communications industry officials told us they expect a Carr-led FCC would prioritize policies he wrote about in the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. For example, the chapter lays out plans for rolling back Section 230 protections for tech companies, deregulating broadband infrastructure and restricting Chinese companies.
Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington appears likely to win renomination regardless of which party takes the White House in November, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Some observers believe it's unlikely Democrats will use Simington's 2025 confirmation process to strike back against any FCC structural changes Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr may propose if former President Donald Trump wins and nominates him as chairman, as expected (see 2407120002). Carr’s reconfirmation last year (see 2310020043) means his term doesn’t expire until 2028, so he wouldn't face a new round of Senate scrutiny.
Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R) is seeking the dismissal of count VI of NetChoice’s 11-count complaint that argues Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (see 2405060006) preempts the state’s Minor Protection in Social Media Act, a motion said Friday (docket 2:23-cv-00911) in U.S. District Court for Utah in Salt Lake City. Katherine Hass, director of Utah’s Division of Consumer Protection, joined Reyes in the motion.
The House Innovation Subcommittee on Thursday passed a federal privacy bill and a kids’ privacy bill despite objections to the latter from House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
Policy discussions are hopefully “boiling to the point” where Congress can repeal Communications Decency Act Section 230, House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told us Wednesday. He and Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said the parallel efforts of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are encouraging.
Communications Decency Act Section 230 has outlived its usefulness and should be repealed, Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us this week.
The House Commerce Committee on Sunday announced bipartisan draft legislation that would sunset Communications Decency Act Section 230 in December 2025. Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., issued a discussion draft that encourages "Congress and stakeholders to work together over the next 18 months to evaluate and enact a new legal framework that will allow for free speech and innovation while also incentivizing these companies to be good stewards of their platforms.” Rodgers and Pallone said in a Wall Street Journal joint opinion piece Sunday: “Section 230 is now poisoning the healthy online ecosystem it once fostered. Big Tech companies are exploiting the law to shield them from any responsibility or accountability as their platforms inflict immense harm on Americans, especially children.” The legislation offers the tech industry a choice, they said: “Work with Congress to ensure the internet is a safe, healthy place for good, or lose Section 230 protections entirely.” CTA CEO Gary Shapiro opposed the draft bill, saying in a statement Monday that “Section 230 has propelled the U.S. to global leadership in tech and given us the world’s most dynamic startup ecosystem. Eliminating Section 230 would be a huge gift to our economic rivals abroad. Congress should say NO to this bill.” Similarly, NetChoice opposed the measure, with Vice President Carl Szabo saying Section 230 doesn’t shield violators from federal criminal law. Sunsetting Section 230 won't achieve Congress’ intended goal of holding bad actors accountable, he said. NetChoice recommended Congress craft laws that increase resources for law enforcement as it investigates and prosecutes “digital criminals.” In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have explored repealing Section 230 as a way of protecting children from social media harms (see 2403110033).
The FTC should narrow the scope of its online impersonation rule, preventing unnecessary liability for broadband and wireless providers, NCTA, CTIA, USTelecom and the Consumer Technology Association told the agency in comments posted through Wednesday. Consumer advocates urged the agency to make the rule broad enough to stop companies from turning a blind eye to scams.