{"id":1091782,"date":"2021-12-06T21:28:33","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T02:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1091782"},"modified":"2021-12-06T21:29:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T02:29:04","slug":"congress-wants-to-make-big-tech-responsible-for-online-speech-heres-why-thats-so-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congress-wants-to-make-big-tech-responsible-for-online-speech-heres-why-thats-so-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress Wants To Make Big Tech Responsible For Online Speech. Here\u2019s Why That\u2019s So Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcongress-wants-to-make-big-tech-responsible-for-online-speech-heres-why-thats-so-hard%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1091782&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><ul>\n<li><strong>Congress appears no closer to holding tech platforms accountable for undesirable behavior and content on their platforms following a hearing considering several bills seeking to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cA lot of what you hear from Democrats is concerns about misinformation regarding health and elections, and a lot of concerns that you hear from Republicans is they feel conservatives are unfairly censored by tech forums,\u201d Jeff Kosseff, cybersecurity law professor at the United States Naval Academy, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to reconcile those two perspectives.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cOur hope is Democrats choose to defend that foundational principle and abandon their censorship desires,\u201d Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who serves as ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told the DCNF. \u201cOnly then can we come together to hold Big Tech accountable.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Senate has fared better than the House in finding common ground on Section 230 reform, albeit related to less politically-charged issues.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While there is agreement between large factions of both Republicans and Democrats that social media companies should be liable for certain third-party content hosted on their platforms, the parties differ on what that content should be, and why platforms should be liable in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Congress appeared no closer to finding common ground following a House Energy and Commerce hearing Wednesday, in which lawmakers considered several bills seeking to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWednesday\u2019s hearing made clear that Republicans and Democrats have drastically different solutions to hold Big Tech accountable,\u201d Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who serves as Ranking Member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cRepublicans are fighting for free speech, while Democrats continue to push for more censorship and control. Bipartisanship will not be possible until Democrats agree that we need less censorship, not more.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7329988\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"38\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7329988\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 NOVEMBER 16: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) speaks at a hearing with the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change in the Rayburn House Office Building on November 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. The hearing was held to discuss clean energy solutions for the current supply chain crisis. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Republicans have long <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/02\/18\/conservatives-section-230-reform-unintended-consequences\/\">seen<\/a>&nbsp;Section 230 as a tool to prevent social media platforms from censoring conservative content, whereas Democrats have made clear that they intend to use Section 230 reform to incentivize tech companies to remove more content, particularly \u201cmisinformation\u201d and \u201chate speech,\u201d and alter which content companies promote with recommendation algorithms.<\/p>\n<p>So far, no Section 230 reforms aimed at addressing hot-button issues like censorship or misinformation have been enacted. And despite a flurry of proposals in the past few years from both sides of the aisle, Congress has only passed one major bipartisan piece of legislation targeting Section 230: the FOSTA-SESTA <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2018\/04\/11\/trump-signs-fosta\/\">package<\/a> signed into law in April 2018, which exempts conduct that promotes or facilitates sex trafficking from liability protections. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/18\/facebook-section-230-frances-haugen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Is Anything Actually Going To Happen To Facebook?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of what you hear from Democrats is concerns about misinformation regarding health and elections, and a lot of concerns that you hear from Republicans is they feel conservatives are unfairly censored by tech forums,\u201d Jeff Kosseff, cybersecurity law professor at the United States Naval Academy, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to reconcile those two perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>\u2018Increased Content Moderation\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This fundamental divide was evident at Wednesday\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/12\/01\/republicans-facebook-big-tech-cathy-mcmorris-rodgers-frances-haugen\/\">hearing<\/a>, in which Democrats excoriated Republicans for using Section 230 to obtain \u201ca license to have the right to lie without consequence,\u201d and touted several bills intended to push companies to take down more \u201cmisinformation\u201d on their platforms.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6248983\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"38\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6248983\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6248983\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/DonaldTrumpSignsFOSTA-e1523467440982.jpg\" alt=\"WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 11: US President Donald Trump waves goodbye to the media after signing H.R. 1865, the &quot;Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017&quot; at The White House in Washington, DC, April 11, 2018. With Trump are victims and family members of victims of online sex trafficking and members of Congress who helped pass the bill. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool\/Getty Images)\" data-wp-editing=\"1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/DonaldTrumpSignsFOSTA-e1523467440982.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/DonaldTrumpSignsFOSTA-e1523467440982-279x120.jpg 279w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/DonaldTrumpSignsFOSTA-e1523467440982-768x330.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/DonaldTrumpSignsFOSTA-e1523467440982-620x267.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-6248983\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">US President Donald Trump waves goodbye to the media after signing H.R. 1865, the \u201cAllow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017\u201d at The White House in Washington, DC, April 11, 2018. (Photo by Chris Kleponis-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Democrats\u2019 idea is that if we threaten you with lawsuits, you\u2019ll start taking more things down,\u201d Daniel Lyons, law professor at Boston College Law School who testified at the hearing, told the DCNF. \u201cThe real effect is going to be increased content moderation and a reduction in total speech available, because, if platforms choose to do anything, they\u2019ll take down lots and lots of content out of fear of being sued.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The most recent of Democrats\u2019 Section 230 <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/14\/frank-pallone-big-tech-facebook-frances-haugen\/\">proposals<\/a>, the Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act (JAMAA), is intended to hold tech platforms liable for content, particularly misinformation, algorithmically boosted on their platforms. If enacted, the law would remove liability protections from platforms that recommend \u201cpersonalized\u201d content contributing to \u201cphysical or severe emotional injury\u201d of a user.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTechnology companies like Facebook say their platforms give every user a voice, but they amplify some voices over others,\u201d Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky <a href=\"https:\/\/energycommerce.house.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/ec-leaders-announce-legislation-to-reform-section-230\">said<\/a>&nbsp;when announcing the bill. \u201cThe Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act holds these companies accountable for the severe harm they cause by spreading dangerous information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another Democrat <a href=\"https:\/\/malinowski.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/reps-malinowski-and-eshoo-reintroduce-bill-hold-tech-platforms-accountable\">proposal<\/a>&nbsp;considered at the hearing, the Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act, would remove Section 230 liability protections for certain content in an attempt to \u201chold large social media platforms accountable for their algorithmic amplification of harmful, radicalizing content that leads to offline violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiability is just a means to an end\u2014the objective is to incentivize changes to the algorithm,\u201d Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, who co-sponsored the bill, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/congress-takes-aim-at-algorithms-section-230-reform\/\">told<\/a>&nbsp;Wired. \u201cThe premise of the bill is that without the incentives created by liability, they\u2019re not likely to make those changes on their own, but that they do know how to make things better and would do so if there\u2019s sufficient pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>\u2018Fighting For Free Speech\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The proposals have failed to earn support from Republicans, who view Democrats\u2019 attempts to incentivize tech platforms to remove misinformation as a backdoor for political censorship.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6974692\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"36\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6974692\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6974692\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1042679968-e1596138177771-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 28: U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) (C) speaks to members of the media as other female Democratic House members look on outside a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting September 28, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee met to discuss and later vote on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court prior to the nomination proceeding to a vote in the full U.S. Senate. (Photo by Alex Wong\/Getty Images)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1042679968-e1596138177771-scaled.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/GettyImages-1042679968-e1596138177771-282x120.jpg 282w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/GettyImages-1042679968-e1596138177771-768x328.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/GettyImages-1042679968-e1596138177771-620x265.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-6974692\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) (C) speaks to members of the media as other female Democratic House members look on outside a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting September 28, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhile the Section 230 bill before us today pushes for more censorship, Republicans are fighting for free speech,\u201d McMorris Rodgers said in her opening remarks at the Wednesday hearing, referring to JAMAA and characterizing it as \u201ca thinly veiled attempt to pressure companies to censor more speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McMorris Rodgers, along with other top House Republicans including Reps. Jim Jordan and Bob Latta, <a href=\"https:\/\/republicans-energycommerce.house.gov\/news\/press-release\/ec-republicans-announce-next-phase-of-their-effort-to-hold-big-tech-accountable\/\">unveiled<\/a> a host of draft bills taking aim at Section 230 from several different angles in July. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/07\/jim-jordan-antitrust-section-230-big-tech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Jim Jordan Announces Plans To Make It Easier To Break Up Big Tech)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The bills prioritize protecting users\u2019 online speech, with one bill spearheaded by Jordan and McMorris Rodgers seeking to \u201cremove liability protections for companies who censor constitutionally protected speech on their platforms, require appeals processes, and transparency for content enforcement decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur hope is Democrats choose to defend that foundational principle and abandon their censorship desires,\u201d McMorris Rodgers told the DCNF. \u201cOnly then can we come together to hold Big Tech accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>\u2018One Area For Bipartisan Cooperation\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Senate has fared better than the House in finding common ground on Section 230 reform, albeit related to less politically-charged issues. The PACT Act, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schatz.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/schatz-thune-reintroduce-legislation-to-update-section-230-strengthen-rules-transparency-on-online-content-moderation-hold-internet-companies-accountable-for-moderation-practices\">reintroduced<\/a> by Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz and Republican Sen. John Thune in March, would make Section 230 immunity conditional on platforms issuing biannual transparency reports and making certain content moderation decisions public, as well as establishing a complaint system and removing illegal content in a timely manner.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7126246\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"36\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7126246\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7126246\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Photo-by-Andrew-Harnik-PoolGetty-Images-12121-e1613772318298.jpg\" alt=\"WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 19: Sen. John Thune (R-SD) appears during a Senate Finance Committee hearing to examine the expected nomination of Janet Yellen to be Secretary of the Treasury on January 19, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool\/Getty Images)\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7126246\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. John Thune (R-SD) appears during a Senate Finance Committee hearing to examine the expected nomination of Janet Yellen to be Secretary of the Treasury on January 19, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI still believe that if there\u2019s one area for bipartisan cooperation this Congress it\u2019s reining in Big Tech, and I\u2019ve introduced bipartisan legislation that proves it\u2019s possible,\u201d Sen. Thune told the DCNF. \u201cFocusing on the urgent need to make these companies more transparent and accountable, which is exactly what my PACT Act does, is the best way to achieve meaningful, bipartisan results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thune and Schatz\u2019 bill sidesteps thornier, hot-button issues like political censorship and misinformation while incentivizing platform transparency, a compromise that may enable it to skirt more partisan lines of criticism. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/13\/facebook-frances-haugen-big-tech-mark-zuckerberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Facebook\u2019s Whistleblower Could Be The Best Thing To Ever Happen To Big Tech)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy bill would preserve free speech on the internet, which is what consumers want, while increasing transparency and accountability for big internet platforms and their content moderation decisions, which is what consumers deserve,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n<p>Senators have also found bipartisan success on Section 230 reforms related to child sexual exploitation; the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/releases\/graham-blumenthal-hawley-feinstein-introduce-earn-it-act-to-encourage-tech-industry-to-take-online-child-sexual-exploitation-seriously\">EARN IT Act<\/a>, introduced by top Senate Judiciary Committee members including Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein, would make Section 230 liability protections contingent on online platforms meeting \u201cbest practices\u201d established by a federal commission for finding and moderating child sexual content. The bill advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I worry about is that there will be some kind of massive bill where some of the liberal priorities and some of the conservative priorities are all put together, even if they conflict with one another,\u201d Kosseff told the DCNF. \u201cAnd at that point Section 230 becomes entirely useless, because it\u2019s not clear how a platform can operate if it\u2019s basing these competing obligations from the government to both not carry content and to carry content.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress appears no closer to holding tech platforms accountable for undesirable behavior and content on their platforms following a hearing considering several bills seeking to reform Section 230 of the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1091782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1091782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1091782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1091782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1091782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}