Internet social-media platforms are granted broad “safe harbor” protections against legal liability for any content users post on their platforms. Those protections, spelled out in Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA), were written a quarter century ago during a long-gone age of naïve technological optimism and primitive technological capabilities. So much has changed since the turn of the century that those protections are now desperately out of date. It’s time to rethink and revise those protections — and for all leaders whose companies rely on internet platforms to understand how their businesses might be affected.
It’s Time to Update Section 230
The internet has changed a lot since the Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996.
August 12, 2021
Summary.
A quarter of a century ago, in Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, Congress implemented “safe harbor” protections against legal liability for any content users post on social-media platforms. These platforms provide lots of benefits, of course, but since 1996 we’ve learned just how much social devastation they can also bring about. What we’ve learned, the authors write, makes it clear that Section 230 is desperately out of date and needs updating, to hold social-media platforms responsible for how their sites are designed and implemented.