Communications Decency Act News

Internet Firms’ Liability Protection Under Fire. 26 Words and What’s at Stake

Democrats and Republicans in Congress are taking aim at a controversial law that shields internet platforms including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. from lawsuits over content posted by users. The measure — just 26 words known as Section 230 — …

Senators Offer Bill to Limit Liability Shield for Social Media Firms

Three Democratic U.S. senators introduced a bill that would limit Section 230, a law that shields online companies from liability over content posted by users, and make the companies more accountable when posts result in harm. Called the SAFE TECH …

Analysis: User Pact, Section 230 Likely to Shield Robinhood, Reddit From Lawsuits

Robinhood Markets Inc.’s user agreement is likely to protect the brokerage app from a barrage of lawsuits filed by customers after it blocked a frenzied trading rally in companies such as GameStop Corp. that was fueled on social media forums. …

FCC Appears Unlikely to Act on Trump Bid to Change Social Media Liability

The prospects of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai taking action on an effort to narrow social media companies’ legal protections under a 1996 law are increasingly unlikely. Both Pai and U.S. President Donald Trump have only 16 more days …

Smaller Websites Nervous Over Giant Facebook’s Support for Liability Reform

Facebook Inc. says it’s time to rethink the legal immunity that protects it from lawsuits over what users post online, a position that’s leaving smaller websites concerned about the cost of accepting more responsibility for what appears on their platforms. …

Tech Firms Form Coalition to Defend Internet Liability Shield Law

A number of internet companies that are not big social media players are organizing to defend the law that shields them from lawsuits. The companies have formed a coalition called Internet Works to protect what they see as the benefits …

Republicans Eye ‘Jackhammer’ to Reform Tech Liability While Democrats Grab ‘Scalpel’

Big Tech’s decisions to block some posts and videos while letting other content viewed as inflammatory proliferate have drawn the ire of Republicans and Democrats alike, raising the prospect that a 24-year-old U.S. law that fostered the internet’s explosion will …

Twitter, Facebook, Alphabet Executives to Defend Liability Shield Before Senate

The chief executives of Twitter Inc., Facebook and Alphabet Inc. will tell U.S. lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday that a federal law protecting internet companies is crucial to free expression on the internet, according to written testimonies from the …

FCC Says It Has Authority to Change Social Media Liability Shield

The top lawyer at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Wednesday the telecommunications regulator has legal authority to redefine the immunity shield protecting social media companies that could make it easier for users to file lawsuits challenging content removal …

No Action Yet on Trump Social Media Liability Proposal

The Federal Communications Commission has given no indication it will move quickly on an effort by President Donald Trump to narrow the ability of social media companies to remove objectionable content and require new transparency rules. The Republican president in …