Today, NetChoice announced opposition to proposed amendments by the Department of Justice to gut Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act by restricting the ability of online services to remove objectionable content and misinformation posted by third parties without assuming liability for their harmful content.
“These amendments would make it near impossible to remove election interference from foreign states like Russia or China, denigration of America’s veterans, fake reviews, and dangerous products —all things we need to be worried about as consumers and as voters during this tense election cycle,” said Carl Szabo, Vice President and General Counsel at NetChoice.
“This bill encourages currently family-friendly websites to be more like the anything-goes 8-Chan, making it impossible to adhere to Congressional demands to remove online COVID-19 misinformation and foreign election interference.”
“The Department of Justice puts our online ecosystem at risk by severely limiting what online services can moderate, meaning these platforms will be forced to keep up blatantly offensive content that users, advertisers, and vulnerable communities don’t want,” said Szabo. “AG Barr’s bill manages to take the worst Section 230 proposals and wraps them all in one.”