Since it seems like this has become a general Section 230 discussion topic, I’m just gonna put my thoughts down here.
I think that Section 230 provides important liability shields. I think that a repeal would be a disaster that is best avoided. But I also think that Big Tech has taken advantage of Section 230 to reap ludicrous profits off the back of lies and hate that’ve wrecked our democracy and shattered any semblance of shared reality that we have. Please hear me out on this.
Facebook is cozy with right-wingers and lets monsters like Steve Bannon off the hook even though anybody else would have had their account crushed to atoms and scattered to the winds. Section 230 protects Facebook from facing scrutiny for these intentionally inconsistent moderation decisions.
Reddit let r/The_Donald fester for years. It was literally impossible for Reddit to have not known the kinds of organizing and bullshit spreading that went on there. The users of that subreddit eventually organized and built out a website of their own. Then, when the subreddit became an unprofitable hollow shell, Reddit finally nuked it. They removed r/FatPeopleHate and other vile subreddits when they were active, but with this one they waited until all possible money was wrung out. They refused to use the power and freedom to moderate that 230 gives them to help protect their users and make their site a safer place. And then they have the fucking gall to help create an industry group that wants to defend Section 230 because, and I quote, “its members represent different corners of the Internet ecosystem, and rely heavily on Section 230 to act responsibly to protect users.” It’s a hypocritical crock of shit. They say they’re open to “a unified, comprehensive approach to reform”, but when Reddit, one of the biggest players in this group, spends years letting nazis have their own little playground, why should anybody trust them?
Twitter could have used its power with Section 230 to routinely remove Trump’s tweets and add fact-checks to anything that he tweeted, both while he was on his 2016 campaign trail and during his presidency when talk of how important fact-checking is became markedly prevalent. Instead, they sat around and twiddled their thumbs until the ass-end of his first term when they finally got on his case about mail-in ballots and the 2020 election, leaving him largely unchecked for 3.75 years and giving him a free soapbox to preach out his bile.
Section 230 deserves to be left as it is, mostly. Any real consequences for Big Tech, ranging from antitrust that breaks them up to privacy legislation & regulation that might force them to drop their algorithmic engagement-above-all-else business models, are welcome, but I feel wholly inadequate to truly punish these corporations for what they’ve done. People need expanded legal toolsets that allow Big Tech to be brought to court and for the assholes running them to face jail time when they moderate inconsistently on purpose for the sake of profit.
