September 29, 2020 |
Dem Senator Joe Manchin Pushes New Bill to Roll Back Section 230 |
WASHINGTON, D.C.âAs Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, the law commonly referred to as âthe First Amendment of the Internet,â comed under attack this year from multiple bills in Congress as well as from the White House and Justice Department, now West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin is expected to introduce yet another bill aimed at scaling back the internet freedom law. According to a report by Politico, Manchinâknown as perhaps the most conservative Democrat in the Senateâwill soon introduce a bill to strip Section 230 protections from online platforms that fail to report âsuspicious activitiesâ by their users to the United States Justice Department. In the bill now titled the âSee Something, Say Something Online Act,â such âsuspicious activitiesâ would include possible âmajor crimesâ such as âillegal drug sales," according to Politico technology reporter Steven Overly. Currently, Section 230 grants an effective legal immunity to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or any online service provider, for content posted by users. Under Manchinâs proposed bill, they would lose that immunity if they did not blow the whistle on âsuspicious activitiesâ taking place on their sites. âAs the Internet rapidly changed, we failed to keep up. Now we must amend Section 230 to reflect the way the Internet impacts our lives todayâboth good and bad,â Manchin said, as quoted by Politico. âThatâs why I am planning to introduce bipartisan legislation that would require companies to say something when they see something illegal online.â The most high-profile piece of legislation, of several now in Congress, that would scale back 230 is the âEliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2020,â or EARN IT Act, sponsored by Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Under EARN IT, platforms would be largely stripped of Section 230 protections, but could âearnâ back their immunity by following a set of âbest practicesâ for monitoring and reporting alleged illegal content on their sites. But Manchinâwho was governor of West Virginia prior to becoming a senatorâhas been pushing for rollbacks to Section 230 at least since 2018, when he said at a Senate hearing that internet platforms should be held accountable for opioid sales online, according to the Politico report. Section 230 is particularly important for the adult industry, because according to First Amendment attorney Lawrence Walters, âany change to Section 230 could result in restrictive content moderation rules or elimination of the platforms, themselves.â Photo By Rebecca Hammel / Wikimedia Commons Public DomainÂ
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