Posted on 06/17/2020 11:28:31 AM PDT by knighthawk
The Justice Department is preparing to roll back the legal protections big tech companies have used to shield themselves from lawsuits over their content, a move that comes after President Donald Trump threatened to shut them down over what he says is bias against conservatives.
The reforms would make companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter more liable for a wide array of content posted on their sites.
And it would also push those companies to be more aggressive in addressing harmful conduct on their sites, The Wall Street Journal reported, and to be fairer and more consistent in their decisions to take down or downplay content.
The plan from the Justice Department involves legislative reform to the law known as Section 230 - the original legal code governing the internet - so it would have to be adopted by Congress, including approval from the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to become law.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Here comes impeachment part 2... Google has lots of dough and they own lots of politicians who already want to get Trump. ‘He politicized the DOJ! unequal treatment!’ will be the charge.
If you are going to police content, you have taken responsibility for ALL content. Slippery slope.
Hope you don’t miss one... ;)
Wow, this is a big one.
Sure they are a private company BUT I also have freedom of speech. On cable they have porn channels-private companies. I find them violent against women and filled with vile behavior BUT if I don’t want to see those channels I just don’t turn them on or pay for them. They are still available though. Same with Google and the big tech companies. They are private companies but should allow all speech. If someone does not want to go to The Federalist don’t go to their site.
great! Then libs can sue the tech giants for ever allowing conservative content on the site. Then again this wont happen anyway so the threat is good.
Maybe, maybe not. But you cannot claim protection on one hand as just a publisher, than claim on another hand to be a platform. Something has to give.
If they pick and choose what gets published or spoken, then they can be held liable for for their users “defamatory, fraudulent, or otherwise unlawful content”.
Whoop-de-doo. DOJ is going to ask congress to pass a new law. Be sure to say pretty please.
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube want both the editorial control of a publisher AND the legal immunity of a platform provider, but the responsibilities of neither.
This has zero chance of passing the House.
Nice summary in one sentence. Well played, FRiend.
“...Google has lots of dough and they own lots of politicians...”
Yes, and the feds let this situation build up UNCHECKED. Now they have to deal with it. Google has been and is a real problem. Way too much control.
Yes, they are. Here are the two caveats for me though.
1) If you want immunity from being sued over content, it has to be anything goes, barring anything actually illegal, like trying to conspire to commit a crime (and it would have to be explicit). If you want the ability to censor, then you're assuming the OBLIGATION to censor, and should be liable if you don't when you should have. Right now, they want (and have) it both ways. Immunity for the content, but also the option to censor. That's a no-go as far as I'm concerned.
2) If your product/service is dominant enough to be considered a monopoly, then if you choose to censor, you should be liable if your censoring has political bias. Or perhaps, monopolies don't get to have the option to censor.
Totally agree. Combine that with the thought that these companies used the ‘platform’ immunity to obtain monopoly status and now want to change and become limited liability publishers.
We also have anti-trust laws that can be used against publishing monopolies.
If they’re making editorial decisions, then they’re responsible. It’s how it works in newspapers...
When you’re the gatekeeper YOU’RE responsible for who walks in the gate.
When are they going to strip vaccine makers protections? hmmm
It’s about time!!!!
We need an all hands on deck approach to combating the massive misinformation from the media and social media platforms.
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