Section 230 News

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 …

Top Biden Tech Advisor Is Critic of Internet Firms; Helped Craft California Privacy Law

President-elect Joe Biden’s top technology adviser helped craft California’s landmark online privacy law and recently condemned a controversial federal statute that protects internet companies from liability, indicators of how the Biden administration may come down on two key tech policy …

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 …

FCC Chief Vows to Advance New Social Media Company Liability Rules

Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday the agency will move forward to set new rules to clarify the meaning of a key legal protection for social media companies. The announcement came as Republicans expressed anger over Twitter Inc.’s …