Repealing Section 230 isn’t the “right answer” for holding tech platforms accountable, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us last week.
Section 230
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduling a hearing on Section 230 and prospects for repealing the tech industry’s liability shield, ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us Tuesday.
The Senate needs to bring a package of kids’ online safety legislation to the floor, advocates said Thursday during an event on Capitol Hill. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called for a vote in late September (see 2309270045). His office declined comment Thursday. Tanya Gould, director of Virginia's Office of the Attorney General Anti-Human Trafficking Office, joined several advocates and former child sex-trafficking victims during Thursday’s event, which was hosted by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. They called for passage of the Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment (Stop CSAM) Act (S-1199), the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (Earn It Act) (S-3398) and the Kids Online Safety Act (S-1409). Advocates said social media platforms are hiding behind Communications Decency Act Section 230 to avoid taking action against harmful content. Tech companies aren’t designing products with “safety in mind,” said NCOSE CEO Dawn Hawkins.
State legislators floated more than 200 content moderation bills this year, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said Wednesday. Many of the proposals are “unconstitutional, conflict with federal law including Section 230, and would place major barriers on digital services’ abilities to restrict dangerous content on their platforms,” said the CCIA report. “Many legislators made the measured decision to pause the advancement of this type of legislation until the Supreme Court makes its decision” on Texas and Florida social media laws, it said. “We anticipate this will likely continue to be a main focus for legislators in 2024.”
Google representatives defended their content moderation efforts Thursday amid congressional criticism of YouTube, Meta and X, formerly known as Twitter, for their handling of content about Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The FTC risks violating the First Amendment and Section 230 with its proposed rule for combating deceptive online reviews, Amazon and tech associations told the agency in comments posted Monday (see 2306300029). Consumer groups recommended the agency increase liability for online platforms not doing enough to police fake and deceptive reviews.
The government needs to regulate AI to ensure companies are operating safely and in the “interest of the general public,” Tech billionaire Elon Musk told reporters Wednesday.
Congress needs to establish a national commission to license and audit AI companies, Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday.
The AI working group led by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., won’t rush to introduce legislation, members of the group told us after their second Senate AI briefing (see 2307110049).
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote Wednesday on three FCC nominees and commission inspector general candidate Fara Damelin, as expected (see 2306270067), the committee said Thursday. Incumbent Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and new pick Anna Gomez got copious questions from Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and other panel Republicans, but none of them indicated the same level of negativity that ex-nominee Gigi Sohn faced during her often-fractious year-plus confirmation process. Committee Democrats, meanwhile, probed Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr on controversial statements he made since becoming a commissioner during the Trump administration.