Big tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google would lose some of their coveted legal liability shield over paid ads as well as harassing and discriminatory content under a Senate bill released by Democrats that could serve to reignite scrutiny of the protections. Democratic Sens. Mark Warner (Va.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) on Friday introduced the Safeguarding Against Fraud, Exploitation, Threats, Extremism and Consumer Harms Act. The legislation would limit tech’s broad lawsuit protections first granted under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
How do you get social media companies to take content moderation more seriously? A new bill from Senate Democrats proposes doing so by paving a way for consumers to sue internet companies for ads and user content accused of causing harm to the public.
On Friday, Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota introduced the bill, which may have a real shot at passing with the Democrats now in control of Congress. “The SAFE TECH Act doesn’t interfere with free speech—it’s about allowing these platforms to finally be held accountable for harmful, often criminal behavior enabled by their platforms to which they have turned a blind eye for too long,” Warner said in a tweet.
The bill would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which can shield internet companies from lawsuits over any objectionable or illegal content they host. To avoid getting sued, the provider simply has to make a "good faith" effort to pull the content down. The bill from Warner proposes carving out some exemptions to that legal immunity. A notable one is how Section 230 would no longer apply to online ads an internet company is hosting. According to Warner, social media companies have often hosted ads that tricked vulnerable users into buying bogus products or exposed them to fraud.
The potential changes include:
- Holding platforms accountable for ads and other paid content that scams vulnerable consumers.
- Letting victims seek out legal action when the platform is used to cause harm.
- Upholding civil rights protections.
- Making sure platforms don't interfere with cyberstalking laws and can be held accountable by victims of targeted harassment and abuse.
- Giving families a legal option against a platform if it directly contributed to the loss of a loved one.
- Allowing victims of human rights violations abroad to seek legal action in US courts if a platform enabled activities like the Rohingya genocide.
The bill would also allow people to sue an internet company for hosting content that caused “irreparable harm” or a “wrongful death.” Warner said this was added to address how social media platforms can be used to incite violence, such as the pro-Trump riot that erupted at the US Capitol on Jan. 6. Other major exemptions would let people sue an internet company for hosting user-generated content that infringes on people’s civil rights, violates antitrust, or constitutes cyberstalking and harassment against a victim.
When Google decides to suppress or amplify content, it does so for 90% of the global marketplace. Twitter’s choices to cut off circulation of certain content — as they did when they banned circulation of a story critical of the Biden family, a month before the November election — very much shapes the national news narrative. Facebook, by its own admission, has the power to swing elections — which is troubling, as some of the platform’s “fact checkers” are partially bankrolled by a Chinese company.
The downstream impact these companies have on shaping independent thought, market access, consumer behavior, election integrity and speech are undeniable. In a very real way, these platforms are transforming the nature of what it means to be “free” in a free society.
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