Section 230 Immunity

Some sites would shut down.

Section 230 immunity. After her ex boyfriend posted nude photos of her and other personal information on a site operated by yahoo inc. Roger wicker r miss chairman of the committee on commerce science and transportation will convene a hearing titled does section 230 s sweeping immunity enable big tech bad behavior at 10 00 a m. On wednesday october 28. Section 230 grants internet platforms immunity from prosecution if a third party uploads defamatory or otherwise illegal content.

It runs only 26 words long short and to the point. It will also. Section 230 as it s commonly known provides interactive computer services that is anything from web hosts to websites to social media companies with broad immunity from civil cases. Section 230 has allowed the modern internet to flourish.

In the majority opinion the court said section 230 should be construed broadly in favor of immunity why is the law so consequential. 1 platforms acting purposefully and with the conscious intent to promote solicit or facilitate content that the provider knew violated federal criminal law 2 platforms hosting content that violates federal criminal law if they have actual knowledge of the content and fail to take certain actions enumerated in the. For example a blog website currently cannot be held legally liable if a third party blogger writes a libelous post. Section 230 immunity does not bar all potential claims a plaintiff may have and may not apply to claims arising from contractual obligations.

Section 230 generally provides immunity for website publishers from third party content. The hearing will examine whether section 230 of the communications decency act has outlived its usefulness in today s digital age. Joe biden stated in a new york times interview in january 2020 that facebook should lose section 230 immunity because of the prevalence of political misinformation on the platform. Section 230 is a part of federal legislation passed more than 20 years ago.

If there were no section 230 or if there were significant barriers to reaching that immunity the entire internet ecosystem would look different. But it has had an outsize affect on life as we know it. Yahoo inc 570 f 3d 1096 9th cir.