{"id":600675,"date":"2021-07-22T18:50:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T22:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=600675"},"modified":"2021-07-22T18:50:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T22:50:22","slug":"democrats-introduce-bill-holding-tech-companies-liable-for-health-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-introduce-bill-holding-tech-companies-liable-for-health-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Introduce Bill Holding Tech Companies Liable For \u2018Health Misinformation\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/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%2Fdemocrats-introduce-bill-holding-tech-companies-liable-for-health-misinformation%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=600675&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--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/klobuchar-1-scaled-e1626981623290.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Senate Democrats introduced legislation Thursday removing liability protections from online platforms that promote content deemed health misinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/22733658\/EHF21778.pdf\"><u>bill<\/u><\/a>, proposed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Ben Ray Lujan on Thursday, seeks to carve out an exception from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/47\/230\"><u>Section 230<\/u><\/a> liability shields enjoyed by online platforms, such as Facebook or YouTube, if those platforms boost content classified as health misinformation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/recode\/2021\/7\/22\/22588829\/amy-klobuchar-health-misinformation-act-section-230-covid-19-facebook-twitter-youtube-social-media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vox<\/a> first reported.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation, known as the Health Misinformation Act, directs the Department of Health and Human Services (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/\"><u>HHS<\/u><\/a>) to create a definition of health misinformation, and strips liability protections from platforms \u201cif the provider promotes that health misinformation through an algorithm used by the provider.\u201d HHS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/about\/news\/2021\/07\/15\/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-during-covid-19-vaccination-push-warning-american.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defined<\/a> health misinformation in an advisory last week as \u201cinformation that is false, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bill does allow for \u201cneutral\u201d boosting of misinformation, such as through \u201cchronological functionality,\u201d in which newer content is promoted to users.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor far too long, online platforms have not done enough to protect the health of Americans,\u201d Klobuchar said in a statement to Vox. \u201cThese are some of the biggest, richest companies in the world, and they must do more to prevent the spread of deadly vaccine misinformation.\u201d <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/19\/psaki-white-house-facebook-misinformation-covid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Psaki Dodges On White House Revealing Which Facebook Posts It Flags As Misinformation)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act states \u201cno provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider,\u201d shielding online companies such as Facebook from liability for content posted by users.<\/p>\n<p>By creating an exception for health misinformation, the bill would permit tech companies to be sued over content boosted on their platforms.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"9.746835443038\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Even as more Americans get their shots, the danger of the coronavirus and vaccine-related misinformation persists. I\u2019ll continue pushing for policies to address the proliferation of misinformation and hold perpetrators accountable. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JiDaUrCc2M\">https:\/\/t.co\/JiDaUrCc2M<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Senator Amy Klobuchar (@SenAmyKlobuchar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenAmyKlobuchar\/status\/1417571416577396744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 20, 2021<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe COVID\u201319 pandemic remains an ongoing threat and there is a need to ensure that social media platforms do their part in promoting accurate scientific information to users of those platforms,\u201d the text of the bill reads.<\/p>\n<p>The bill instructs HHS to consult with other federal agencies and \u201coutside experts\u201d to issue guidance regarding what is health misinformation within 30 days of the bill\u2019s enactment.<\/p>\n<p>The introduction of the bill follows a campaign by the White House and federal agencies to crack down on social media misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/19\/joe-biden-facebook-isnt-killing-people-coronavirus-misinformation-disinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Biden Says \u2018Facebook Isn\u2019t Killing People\u2019 Days After Appearing To Accuse Company Of Doing Just That)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Press Secretary Jen Psaki <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/15\/covid-19-jen-psaki-white-house-facebook\/\"><u>announced<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;just last week the White House was working with Facebook to flag misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine. Psaki pointed to a <a href=\"https:\/\/252f2edd-1c8b-49f5-9bb2-cb57bb47e4ba.filesusr.com\/ugd\/f4d9b9_b7cedc0553604720b7137f8663366ee5.pdf\"><u>list<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of 12 Facebook users which she claimed produced 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation, and <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/16\/jen-psaki-people-banned-social-media-one-platform-facebook\/\"><u>called<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;for users to be banned from all social media platforms if they were banned from one.<\/p>\n<p>The office of U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/15\/surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-misinformation-covid-19-coronavirus\/\"><u>released<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;an advisory last week urging tech companies to be more aggressive in combating misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine. President Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/19\/joe-biden-facebook-isnt-killing-people-coronavirus-misinformation-disinformation\/\"><u>accused<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;Facebook of \u201ckilling people\u201d by failing to remove as much misinformation as the president would have liked.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Klobuchar did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation\u2019s request for comment.<\/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>Senate Democrats introduced legislation Thursday removing liability protections from online platforms that promote content deemed health misinformation.The bill, proposed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Ben Ray Lujan on Thursday, seeks &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-600675","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\/600675","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600675\/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=600675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}