LOS ANGELES—Section 230, the 1996 law known as the “First Amendment of the Internet,” has come under threat in recent months from both sides of the political aisle in Washington. Multiple bills now under consideration in Congress would roll back online free speech protections granted by the law.
But on Tuesday, Donald Trump ramped up the attacks, posting a message on his Twitter account demanding that Section 230 be repealed “immediately.”
Trump’s tweet came in response to a meme posted on Twitter showing a doctored photo of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell dressed in a Russian military uniform, with the caption “Moscow Mitch.”
“Why does Twitter leave phony pictures like this up, but take down Republican/Conservative pictures and statements that are true?” Trump wrote in the tweet. “Mitch must fight back and repeal Section 230, immediately.”
McConnell has not yet commented publicly on Trump’s tweet, but also on Tuesday three Republican senators introduced a bill which they titled the “Online Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act.” While not a full repeal of Section 230, the bill would remove most of the protections for online platforms over content posted by users.
Under Section 230, platforms — such as Twitter, or Facebook — may not be held legally responsible for content posted by third parties. The new proposed legislation would strip that protection in most cases. Only when platforms remove specific types of content — such as pro-terrorist posts, or those that promote “self harm” — would the Section 230 shield still apply.
But it is not only Trump and other Republicans attempting scale back Section 230. Other bills currently in Congress have been co-sponsored by Democrats. And Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden also supports repeal of Section 230, and his vice-presidential running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, is expected to support revisions the law.
In July, the Senate set hearings on the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act, which was sponsored by Hawaii Democrat Brain Schatz, and South Dakota Republican John Thune. The law would end protections for third-party content, but only when a platform is notified that the content has been deemed “illegal” by a court.
The “Online Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act” is a GOP-only effort, however, with Republican Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee as the only sponsors so far.
According to an analysis by Casey Newton of the tech news site The Verge, even a repeal of Section 230 would not compel Twitter to take down a picture of McConnell depicting him as Russian — because political speech is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, regardless of whether that speech takes place online or off.
“The United States permits its citizens to speak freely about politicians — even to say mean things about them,” Newton wrote. “Repealing Section 230 would likely have no impact on the tweet in question, because the Twitter user’s speech is protected under the First Amendment.”
Photo By Gerd Altmann / Pixabay
