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Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 is one of the most valuable tools for protecting freedom of expression and innovation on the Internet.

It  says that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider" (47 U.S.C. § 230). In other words, online intermediaries that host or republish speech are protected against a range of laws that might otherwise be used to hold them legally responsible for what others say and do.

The protected intermediaries include not only regular Internet Service Providers, but also a range of "interactive computer service providers," including basically any online service that publishes third-party content. Though there are important exceptions for certain criminal and intellectual property-based claims, CDA 230 creates a broad protection that has allowed innovation and free speech online to flourish.

The Justice Department is hosting a forum for academics, nonprofit leaders and industry advocates to discuss the future of a law that has shielded tech companies from legal liability for their users’ posts since its enactment in 1996.

For critics of the tech industry, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has come to symbolize the exceptional treatment from the government that has fueled the growth of a small number of players.

For tech companies, the law represents the internet’s founding values of openness and free expression, while also allowing them to remove the most insidious speech without stumbling into a legal minefield.

Attorney General William Barr aligned himself with the skeptics, telling a gathering of the National Association of Attorneys General in December that the department was “studying Section 230 and its scope.”

“Section 230 has been interpreted quite broadly by the courts,” Barr said, according to a transcript of his remarks. “Today, many are concerned that Section 230 immunity has been extended far beyond what Congress originally intended. Ironically, Section 230 has enabled platforms to absolve themselves completely of responsibility for policing their platforms, while blocking or removing third-party speech — including political speech — selectively, and with impunity.”

Why do some people want to change the law?

In recent years, Washington has begun to sour on the tech industry after a series of complaints about privacy and the growing power of a few key players. As politicians and the general public have awakened to the vast power of the large tech companies, they’ve begun to see Section 230 as a key contributor to that power.