Such claims of bias inspired Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s proposed revision to Section 230 that would tie the law’s promise of immunity to a regular audit proving tech companies’ algorithms and content-removal practices are “politically neutral.”
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is under attack
What do the law’s defenders say?
Tech companies have vigorously defended Section 230, testifying to Congress repeatedly about how it allows them to remove the most objectionable content from their platforms and protects start-ups from being sued out of existence.
Wyden still stands by Section 230, writing in a Washington Post op-ed Monday that efforts to repeal it would punish small start-ups rather than giants like Facebook and Google.
Wyden said corporations lobbying for changes to Section 230 are doing so to find “an advantage against big tech companies.”
“Whenever laws are passed to put the government in control of speech, the people who get hurt are the least powerful in society,” Wyden wrote, referencing SESTA-FOSTA, a 2018 law that made an exception to Section 230 for platforms hosting sex work ads. The law was billed as a way to mitigate sex trafficking, but opponents, including many sex workers, say it made consensual sex work less safe since those engaging can no longer vet their clients in advance and from behind a screen.
