Is It Enough? Two 'Brave House Democrats' Take On Section 230, Big-Tech & Their Party

Written By BlabberBuzz | Sunday, 09 May 2021 02:30 PM
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Is It Enough? Two 'Brave House Democrats' Take On Section 230, Big-Tech & Their Party

House Democrats will offer legislation Friday to give the Federal Trade Commission power to hold social media companies responsible for unfair content moderation practices. The bill indicates one of the first endeavors by Democrats to crack down on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube for establishing and inconsistently executing rules.

The bill, written by Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Kathy Castor of Florida would revise Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act of 1996, the contentious law that gives online platforms legal protection for third-party content.

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The Online Consumer Protection Act would change the part to define that the FTC has the power to monitor and enforce Big Tech companies' terms of service.

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“It would be an unfair and deceptive trade practice under the FTC if the companies did not follow their own terms of service,” Schakowsky said in an interview with Bloomberg Government. “It makes it very clear that Section 230 does not in any way impact the authority of the FTC to hold them accountable.”

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House Democrats will offer a bill Friday to give the Federal Trade Commission power to hold social media companies accountable for unfair content moderation practices. The bill marks one of the first efforts by Democrats to crack down on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube for setting and executing rules inconsistently.

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The law, written by Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Kathy Castor of Florida would amend Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act of 1996, the controversial law that gives online platforms legal immunity for third-party content.

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The Online Consumer Protection Act would replace the section to clarify that the FTC has the authority to monitor and implement Big Tech companies' terms of service.

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“It would be an unfair and deceptive trade practice under the FTC if the companies did not follow their own terms of service,” Schakowsky said in an interview with Bloomberg Government. “It makes it very clear that Section 230 does not in any way impact the authority of the FTC to hold them accountable.”

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The legislation would allow users to sue social media companies if they break their terms of service or content moderation rules.

For instance, the bill could allow users to sue a platform if it censored their content but allowed others to post similar content.

The bill would also require online platforms to have clear content governance rules and consumer protection policies so users have clarity on what kind of content they can and can't be penalized for.

In the last few months, states have been championing legislation that would create fair and clear content moderation rules online, a contentious issue that has created tension between Democrats and Republicans nationwide.

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