Lawmakers are trying to repeal Section 230 again

Congress’ least favorite law is once against facing an existential challenge by bipartisan opponents. 

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, are planning to reintroduce a bill to sunset Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in two years. Repealing the bill, first reported by The Information, would remove protections that web services and users have enjoyed since the 1990s, which underpins much of the way the internet as we know it today works. It’s a proposal Graham has been trying to advance since 2020, and his spokesperson, Taylor Reidy, confirms a reintroduction is “in the works.”

Section 230 shields any “interactive computer service” or its users from legal liability for speech that was produced by someone else — making it possible for social media platforms, as well as blogs and even listserv operators, to moderate content without fearing lengthy litigation over each decision. But critics have argued that it either reduces the incentives for large social networks to police illegal content like abuse and harassment, or, conversely, that it gives these platforms too much freedom to remove content that’s not illegal.

“Section 230, and the legal immunity …read more